Wife Commerce Act

Author's Note: This is a story based on an alternate version of history. Contents of this alternate world shows a lot of sexism towards women because of the situation they are dealing with. This is just a story, not meant to have a basis in reality. If these kinds of stories are not to your liking, then I suggest you don't continue reading any further.

Thank you to HeyAll for beta reading this story.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Starting from the late 17th century to the mid-19th century in Britain, there was a growing trend in which men were selling their wives to other men. This wasn't a widespread act, only happening in a few specific areas of Britain, but was becoming popular in those areas, especially among the lower classes where divorce was extremely difficult to get. Divorce in those times was often an expensive and time-consuming process with lots of red-tape from the government. And when divorce was granted, men were still financially responsible for their ex-wives, which made it more difficult for them when financial problems were a common reason for divorce.

This somehow led some men, although not the majority of them, to the idea of selling their wives to other men; they would get a divorce and some money for their wives. And most women were, of course, against this practice, but others were often OK with it since they would be marrying men who would be able to financially support them.

This practice was easy since, at the time, women had far fewer rights than they do today. Also, back then, love was not a reason for getting married. Most people get married for status, having children, business relations, and so on. Most men got married just to have a wife take care of them and the home, and most women did it just to be financially supported. So, when women were sold off at those auctions, there was no love lost between them.

Men who bought other men's wives were OK with it because they knew the women, they were buying were already experienced housewives. They liked the idea of marrying women who knew what they were doing rather than marrying someone who would be learning over time. Also, as much as virgins were still very much prized during this time period, men liked the idea that these previously married women knew what they were doing in bed.

It also made it easier for women who had taken other lovers in an adulterous affair to have their new man just pay off her husband to let her go. This also happens when the husband abandons his wife and she later takes a new lover, and the husband suddenly returns demanding money.

It was so well known at the time, it led to the premise of the classic novel "The Mayor of Casterbridge" by Thomas Hardy, in which the main character gets drunk and auctions off his wife to a sailor. The wife agrees to go off with the sailor so she can get away from her drunkard ex-husband.

The British government didn't condone these auctions, nor did they condemn them either. They just looked the other way, as they often did with many things during those times. As long as it made things easier for some members of the lower classes to resolve their own marital problems, it made things easier for them as well, since they didn't have to get involved in it.

Technically, those types of marriages weren't even legal and weren't recognized by the church. Essentially, those men and their newly purchased wives were living in sin, according to the church, and they had no marital rights under British law. But due to its popularity, it was recognized by the participants involved and those who witnessed it. Even family members and neighbors who saw couples in those types of marriages were often accepting of that kind of relationship, although not by everyone.

Wife sales officially ended in the late 1850's when they became less popular and new laws took place to end the practice since it was finally deemed a cruel practice towards women. Also, new divorce laws were enacted to make it easier for couples to split up, so they didn't have to do the wife sales any more. Some people tried to continue the practice, and there were a few cases that continued into the early 1900's, but law enforcement often broke up those sales and arrested participants involved in them.

ALTERNATE HISTORY

But in an alternate history, wife sales never ended. Instead of becoming less popular, it grew in popularity and spread across every commonwealth of the British empire. To make sure it was done correctly, the British government not only decided to condone the practice of wife sales but also established laws recognizing it and regulations on how it should be conducted.

Seeing the success of this method, other countries soon followed. They adopted the same model for wife sales that the British used and adjusted it to their own laws and customs. Divorce laws around the world were made much easier in order to have these sales established. And despite the feminist movements over the next 150-plus more years, wife sales are the only sexist form of commerce that is still around today.

The practice of wife sales finally came to the United States of America in the late 1880's and was done mostly in secret since the government did not originally recognize this practice as being ethical. Originally, all efforts were made to prevent wife sales and crack down on the practice. But as it grew in popularity, politicians began to cater to the idea for their constituents and worked to make it legal.

Finally, in 1905, the United States government officially recognized wife sales and developed the Wife Commerce Act (WCA), which allowed men to sell their wives under specific regulations. Over the next century, the act was amended several times, including new regulations to ensure that sales were conducted effectively between all parties and that the women being sold were treated humanely. The government also established the Wife Commerce Bureau (WBC) to oversee all sales of wives and wife auctions.

PRESENT-DAY CALIFORNIA

Matt couldn't believe his luck as his financial problems continued to pile on one by one. He hadn't had a good case at the law firm he worked for in months that would've made him some good money. Also, several of the stocks he sold off in the last few weeks because they had fallen too low were now going back up. One stock was skyrocketing because of a merger deal that the company had announced. He had done his research thoroughly before making any trades, but unfortunately, they never delivered.

Then, there were his gambling debts; he hadn't had a big winner in months. He didn't know why he got into betting on college football in the first place, he barely knew anything about it. Like with his stocks, he did his research on the teams he was betting on, but it never worked out. His problem was that he always picked the longshots, forgetting that they were longshots for a reason.

What's worse, was his bitchy ex-wife, Sarah, who he still had to pay a fortune in alimony to. He couldn't really blame her for going after him in court. He was very neglectful and cheated on her regularly. She didn't even leave him; he left her for another woman, a stripper no less. The relationship with the stripper, whose name was Amber, also ended badly.

Matt wasn't entirely broke. He has paid off all of those debts, but that meant digging deep into his pockets. He was still making some money from his law firm, despite how many cases he had been losing, so he got some money coming in. But in the long run, it wasn't going to be enough.

He was having lunch with Peter, his best friend, who also worked with him at the law firm they worked at. Peter recognized something was wrong with Matt and got him to tell him what was on his mind, and that's when Matt told him everything. Peter was very surprised to hear this revelation.

"I don't know what to do," said Matt. "My life is falling apart at the seams."

"I warned you about those energy stocks," said Peter. "There were a lot of red flags on those. Same thing with those sketchy mining stocks."

"Yeah, yeah, you told me already."

"And I warned you about some of those sports bets you were making."

"I seriously thought Arizona was going to do so much better."

Peter reminded him, "It's Arizona's NLF team that's doing great this year, not the college team. And you bet on them four games in a row, despite how bad they are."

"I know, I know, you don't have to keep reminding me of that. I don't know how to tell Joyce how badly I screwed up."

"You'll just have to find the right moment to tell her. And you probably have to do it soon so she can make sure she doesn't spend too much of your money."

"I'm not looking forward to that conversation," Matt replied.

"I can give you a loan if you need it," Peter offered.

"Thanks, but I'm OK for now," Matt assured him.

"The offer still stands if you do need it, though."

After a long moment, Matt decided to tell Peter something he had been thinking about for some time now. Something that would help his financial situation, given the problems he is currently having.

"I need to tell you something, Peter," Matt began to say. "I'm thinking about selling Joyce to fix my money problems."

"What? Sell Joyce? Are you serious?" Peter asked.

"It's the only way I can think of to fix everything,"

"But you can't do that. There are a lot of reasons for you not to do it, but a good one I can think of right now is that you guys haven't been married for seven years yet. It's only been 3 years."

According to section 1C of the WCA, there is a 7-year waiting period before the husband can sell his wife. This made sure the wife wasn't sold off too soon into the marriage. After the 1905 act was established, there were incidents in the past where the wife was sold off multiple times in short periods. So, in 1907, the government added a waiting period to make sure women weren't being sold off too often. The first waiting period was five years, and then, in 1930, it was increased to ten years. With some political pressure, it was brought down to seven years in 1949.

In addition, section 1D prevents the husband from selling his wife after 15 years of marriage. So, the husband only had an 8-year period where he could sell his wife. After that, if there was a divorce, it would have to be through a traditional divorce, which could lead to alimony and/or a split of assets.

Matt began to say, "That's true, but that 7-year waiting period is only for when I can sell her without her permission, and then I can keep 85% of the sale and give Joyce the other 15%. But if I can still get her to agree to it earlier, then I'll have to give her 30% of it. Despite everything, I'll just have to accept giving up that large percentage to fix my problems now."

Section 2A of the WCA says the husband who sells his wife needs to give her 15% of the sale. This gives the wife who's being sold off a kind of one-time alimony from the ex-husband. It also gives the woman some money she could keep for herself if anything went wrong in her new marriage.

Section 2B also states that the wife may be sold without her consent and that she must accept the marriage under penalty of law. The penalties have changed over time, but the wife could face jail time or heavy fines, enough to force her to accept the marriage.

Section 7, which alters aspects of Section 2, says the husband could sell his wife earlier than the 7-year waiting period if the wife agrees to one of the following: either get a standard divorce, which includes alimony and a split of assets, or she could agree to be sold off to another husband. If she agrees to be sold to another husband before the 7-year waiting period is over, not only does she get 30% of the sale, she also has the right to approve the sale, letting her choose who she gets married off to next.

"I don't think she'll go for it," said Peter. "She's not that type of woman."

"I can try, but I missed out on my last chance to sell my ex-wife, and now I have to pay her a large amount of alimony."

When Matt was still married to his ex-wife Sarah, he was really looking forward to selling off after they were married for 7 years. She was very desirable, and there were plenty of men who were willing to buy her off of him. He could've made a lot of money off of her, but he got a little greedy and wanted to wait another year or two for her value to go up before he sold her. Sarah was even looking forward to it because she couldn't take Matt's behavior anymore. She wanted out of the marriage and that 15% cut of the sale, and she didn't care who she was sold off to.

But because of his infidelity and leaving her for another woman, she was allowed to file for a traditional divorce, citing section 13.1A of the WCA, known as the infidelity clause. Because of the evidence against him, Matt lost all rights to sell her, and after their divorce proceedings, she got the house and a large amount of alimony.

He knew he was giving up his right to sell her when he cheated on her with Amber, but he had a lot more fun with her than he did with Sarah. He also thought he could groom her to be the perfect wife so he could sell her for more money after 7 years. The only reason they broke up was because before they got married, Amber insisted that he sign a sale waiver form to give up his right to sell her at any point in their marriage.

Section 6 of the WCA recognizes sale waivers in which the potential husband can sign away his right to sell his wife, thus keeping it a traditional marriage. Also, in doing so, they have to accept the possibility of a traditional divorce if that should ever happen.

The sale waivers are the reason why wives aren't being sold off as much as they used to be. Most women insist on the sale waiver, and most men are happy to sign it. There are some methods that some men use to make sure the woman agrees to not have a sale waiver and other legal loopholes that allow men to get around it after they get married, but only when those loopholes arise. For example, if the wife cheats on her husband, the sale waiver is nullified and he can choose to sell her under standard WCA regulations.

Not seeing a long-term financial gain, Matt saw no reason to marry her. Afterwards, Amber broke it off with Matt since he had no plans to marry her and financially support her. Matt was disappointed with how everything turned out for him. Amber, on the other hand, was OK with it all because she was doing well in her stripper job.

Five years after his divorce, Matt got remarried to Joyce. She knew the reasons why his marriage ended and why it didn't work out with Amber, but he convinced her that he was a changed man. Joyce believed him so much that she didn't ask him to sign a sale waiver before they got married. She thought she was in love with him and felt she could trust him not to do anything like that.

"I still think she'll never go for it."

"Not if I tell her she has no choice," Matt replied. "Not only for the money, but there are other things that I haven't told her about that could convince her to approve an early sale."

"Such as?"

Matt went into detail about a few bad promises that he made to Joyce. First, he promised that he would invest in a restaurant with her. She was a culinary chef, and he talked about how much he would like to leave his current job and go into business on his own with her. The truth was, he had no interest in having a restaurant at all; he hated the idea. He just liked the idea of marrying a woman who was already a professional chef and could cook amazing meals for him.

Another lie he told her was that he was interested in having children with her. In the beginning, he loved the idea of being a father, but quickly changed his mind about it. In fact, one time, while she was away visiting her mother for a week, he secretly got a vasectomy to avoid getting her pregnant.

Another reason why he didn't want to have kids with her was that, according to section 2C of the WCA, if they had any children, there was still a 7-year waiting period, but it would have to be 7-years after the last child was born. And this could keep going until they are married for 15 years, after which section 1D of the WCA would take effect and he couldn't sell her after that.

Also, the price for a woman who has children would drop significantly. A lot of men are OK with a woman who already had children with her ex-husband, but many others don't want the burden of being a step-father.

Finally, he told her the reason he had to delay getting a restaurant and having children with her was because of the financial problems he had gone back to his previous marriage. He needed to fix some bad deals he made and find a way to get out of paying Sarah alimony. As far as he knew, she didn't know about his gambling problem and how it's his current financial mistakes that are causing him money problems. Also, there was no way he could get Sarah to give up her alimony unless she got remarried, and he didn't see that happening any time soon.

"Wow," said Peter, looking very shocked after hearing everything. "That's a lot to take in. I don't know how to respond to any of this."

"Yeah, I really screwed up."

"You sure did," said Peter. "At least you are giving her good reasons to be sold."

"It would still take some convincing, but I think it could work. That's assuming she doesn't kick my ass first."

Peter had to remind him, "You better hurry. As far as I know, the next wife auction is in about two months from now. There's a lot to be done to get ready for it, and to get her ready for it as well."

By law, the wife can only be sold through legal entities. Even when the husband sells his wife on his own, they still have to go to the Wife Commerce Bureau to verify the sale. If they want to try an auction to see if they can get a higher price, they have to go through legally recognized spousal auction houses. At those auction houses, once the buyer wins his bid for the wife, the husband can get an immediate divorce, and the wife is married off to her new husband soon after.

Each state has their own laws on where and when to hold wife auctions. In California, where Matt and Joyce live, they are only held in four different areas and only every three months. This is spread out to not only give the husband more time to prepare his wife for auction, but also give them more time to think about whether or not they want to go through with the sale. In many cases, the husband changes his mind about selling his wife, and the issues that led to the decision to sell her are resolved.

"Thanks, I'll look into everything I have to do to be ready for it."

"Or, if you want, I can buy her from you," said Peter. "You don't have to wait that long, and you can avoid the auction and appraiser fees."

Matt was shocked to hear Peter make that offer. He always figured Peter may have had a thing for Joyce, but he didn't think he would ever offer to buy her from him.

Section 4 allows men to sell their wives outside of an auction house. But the sale still had to be notarized and the seller still had to pay the appropriate taxes involved. This also worked when the wife found herself a new lover and the guy wanted to buy her off from her husband. The husband was usually just OK with this since he didn't want to be married to someone who cheated on him.

That section also gives husbands the opportunity to make some quick cash instead of going to an auction house. There was a chance he could've made more money at the auction house, but often they just want to skip that process and get it out of the way.

"You're looking to buy a wife?" Matt asked, stunned. "I figured you were more of the romantic type and wanted to meet someone on your own."

Peter replied, "I'm done looking on my own. I have too much bad luck with women. And I'm not getting any younger, so I figure I might as well get someone fast. Joyce is sexy and a great woman. I think she would make a great wife for me. What do you say?"