Guilds, authority and the individual: The Company of Mercers prosecution of Dorothy Gretton in early eighteenth-century Derby
通过分析梅瑟公司起诉女帽商多萝西·格雷顿的案例，研究行会管辖权、父权制与家庭影响如何交织，影响女性经商权利，并揭示早期现代经济中女性面临的障碍与机遇。
Through a case study of the prosecution of milliner Dorothy Gretton by the Company of Mercers, this article investigates how shifting relationships between guild jurisdiction, patriarchy and familial influence affected a woman’s right to trade. Placed within the wider contexts of evolving economic practices and the expectation that many middle-ranking women should contribute to family incomes, it reveals how a minor spat in a provincial town escalated, drawing into its orbit the Lord Chief Justice of England. In doing so it highlights the obstacles and opportunities facing women in the early-modern economy.