On the 17th November, VOICES Research Fellow Dr. Daniel Patterson presented new findings at the Trinity Centre for Early Modern History. His paper, Women Waging Law: The Chancery Pleadings Revisited, outlined the project’s advances in digitising and analysing surviving records from the Irish Court of Chancery.
Patterson highlighted how these pleadings reveal women using the court to secure property, defend family interests, and navigate the often-clashing demands of Irish custom and English common law. Combining quantitative analysis with detailed case studies, he showed the breadth of legal strategies women employed to assert their rights.
The presentation also underscored the wider aims of VOICES, the European Research Council–funded project led by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer. By applying advanced digital methods to early modern sources, the initiative continues to expose women’s experiences of upheaval, trauma, and conflict in Ireland’s past.
Read the full blog post here: Women waging law: The Chancery Pleadings Revisited by Dr. Daniel Patterson
