Janet Mary Riley: Women and the Law

During her tenure as a law professor, Riley wrote the first casebook on Louisiana community property law, Louisiana Community Property – Cases and Materials on Louisiana Property Law and Marriage, which was published in 1972.

Riley calling for change in the Community Property Law of Louisiana. 

Article by Janet Mary Riley reprinted by the Tulane Law Review concering the Head and Master issue. 

“…As Louisiana is presently the only state that retains automatic male head and mastership of the community, replacement of that status with almost any other may satisfy some people that this state is progressing.” 

-- Janet Mary Riley, “Women’s rights in the Louisiana Matrimonial Regime,” Tulane Law Review, Vol. L, No.3, 1976

Louisiana Community Property Law 

 Janet Mary Riley spearheaded the cause to change the code for equal management and division for both partners. The “Head and Master” rule within Louisiana’s Civil Code gave the husband sole control over community property or, everything a husband and wife acquired while together.

[Head and Master] “was the one issue that united all women in the state. I saw women with anti-ERA buttons sitting side by side with women wearing pro-ERA slogans. Both sides saw it as a victory for their cause when the bill passed; anti-ERA women used it to show that states can handle women’s rights locally and don’t need a national ERA, and the pro-ERA women saw it as a natural step toward a national ERA. I don’t know of one woman who opposed it.”

-- Janet Mary Riley, Remapping Second-Wave Feminism

Riley spoke about women and the law at "The Louisiana Woman and her Changing Society" conference in March of 1973.

Riley presented at the The New Woman in Louisiana Law, a "series of programs, seminars, and workshops presnted by a variety of experts on different aspects of the law as it relates to women." 

Riley was a panelist on community property at the 1976 conference titled "Dialogue on Property Rights" which was sponsered by the League of Women Voters of Louisiana and Louisiana Committee for the Humanities. 

Lousiana Women and the Law 

Janet Mary Riley campaigned for change in the Community Property Law of Louisiana, speaking to women’s groups, presenting at conferences, and literally wrote the casebook on the subject. 

“Whichever path she chooses, working outside or inside, she is contributing to society’s good and to the family in a monetary, economic way and should have equality. Her work at home should be recognized. 

-- Janet Mary Riley, An Angel With Teeth

Janet Mary Riley being awarded for her accomplishments 

1986 Times-Picayune article highlighting Janet Mary Riley's legal success. 

Her Legal Legacy

“So when people tell me, ‘Oh you’re a feminist, you work to get women out of the home,’ I say ‘No, I work for them to get equal protection whether in the home or out of the home.” But it was a hard thing to get across. They kept on coming back saying, “Oh, you’re working to ruin the household, the family.’ … Women’s rights as human beings were not being recognized.” 

-- Janet Mary Riley, Navigating New Terrain: Work and Women’s Spiritual Lives