A radical revision of existing ideas about the popularity, legal treatment and perceptions of cohabitation between 1600 and 2010.

1. Introduction; 2. Fornicators: the punishment of illicit sex; 3. No name: law, morality and precedent; 4. Unmarried wives in war and peace; 5. Living in sin: concerns and changes; 6. 'Stable illicit unions': cohabitation and the reform of divorce law; 7. Common-law wives: the 1970s and the creation of a myth; 8. Live-in lovers: trying to get back to basics; 9. Partners: New Labour and neutrality; 10. Conclusion.

Rebecca Probert is Professor of Law at the University of Warwick. She has taught family law for over a decade and published widely on both contemporary family law and its history.