In October 1848 Heinrich Georg Bayer initiated a matrimonial suit against his affluent wife, in order to claim maintenance from her. This case constitutes a rather unusual action in the Viennese divorce court from the end of the 18th to the mid-19th century, in its attempts to reverse the gender-specific allotment of conjugal duties and rights in general, and the statutory maintenance obligation of the husband in particular. The article will consider the relationship between spousal duties and rights and marital gender relations. In this context, marriage will be interpreted as a legal institution as well as a social relationship. The piece also aims to examine the practices of the Viennese divorce court in relation to maintenance proceedings, addressing the arguments that spouses used to win or to defend an action for maintenance. Perhaps most significantly, it will analyse in detail the negotiating positions that husbands and wives adopted in divorce settlements, and upon which they relied to secure the terms of their divorce.

Ehesachen, Geschlecht, Rechtsgeschichte, Scheidung, Magistrat, Wien, 19. Jahrhundert, Unterhalt, Konflikte

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