Gender Equality Act (1850). An Act For Shortening The Language Used In Acts Of Parliament. Women's Rights. Great Britain. Parliament. Great Britain Women's Rights

Folio (11.5 inches). 13 Victoria, Chapter 21. Caption title, pages 225-227. Engraved Royal coat of arms. Neatly extracted from a bound volume and expertly mended. This Act was designed to help abbreviate references to previous legislation and interpret certain words for future Acts. Of particular significance was the passage that: all Acts importing the Masculine Gender shall be deemed and taken to include Females unless the contrary as to Gender is expressly provided. The gender-equality statement was the first of its kind in British common law legislation. The Act was tested when women tried to register for the British general election in 1868, citing the provision in the Act that gave them equal rights to men, and therefore the same liberty to vote in a federal election. Widespread confusion and uncertainty quickly led to a legal challenge of the Act. In the end, the Court of Common Pleas ruled that women were not persons for the purposes of the Act, and that the "word" man included women only when referring to observance of the laws and taxation, but excluded female persons when referring to the parliamentary franchise.