THE LEGAL WAYS OF SEDUCTION

Rape, coerced sex, and abandonment when pregnant are quintessentially gendered grievances that generations of young women have experienced. The law, however, has not always responded to these grievances by prov iding a tradition by which women could receive monetary damages for th ese kinds of sexual predation. This article situates the nineteenth ce ntury American seduction cases at the cusp of the transition from viol ent retributive sanctions for sexual assault to civil actions for mone y damages. The seduction cases tell the story of the move from patriar chal violence to ''rationally'' created rules of law. In the nineteent h century, courts provided fathers with a cause of action when their d aughters were subjected to sexual coercion while they worked outside t he confines of their father's home. As the state assumed more of a mon opoly on violence in these situations, it replaced the traditional dom ination exercised by the patriarch by copying its distributional patte rn rather than by recognizing new rights in the parties most harmed Th e extension of rights under this ancient tort was in fact, antithetica l to single women's independence because it reinforced the patriarchal order and defeated acts of emancipation on the woman's part. In a stu dy Of more than two hundred cases, Professor VanderVelde first makes t he case that there was no tradition of monetary redress for one of a w oman's greatest fears, sexual assault. The article demonstrates the do ctrines and cultural precepts which inhibited the development of an ac tion that the woman herself could bring. Second, the article examines the terms on which the tort of seduction operated Finally, the article demonstrates how a minor change in standing adopted virtually without notice changed the cast of seduction disputes in some states. Through this means in some eleven states, servant girls at last were able to sue masters who coerced them into engaging in sex.