In her 2014 book Breach of promise to marry: a history of how jilted brides settled scores, Denise Bates writes:
‘While Dickens’s embittered spinster Miss Havisham stopped all her clocks on her wedding day and “never since looked upon the light of day”, the reality was much brighter for thousands of jilted women. The real Miss Havishams didn’t mope in faded wedding finery—they hired lawyers and struck the first “no win, no fee” deals to sue for breach of promise.’
Until 1970, breach of promise to marry was a common law tort under English law. There could be no action, however, unless a contract to marry had been made. No particular form of words was necessary, and the contract did not have to be evidenced in writing. Interestingly, however, the claim could not succeed unless the claimant’s testimony was corroborated by some other
