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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:37:33 -0700 |
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diff --git a/11672-h/11672-h.htm b/11672-h/11672-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..790e230 --- /dev/null +++ b/11672-h/11672-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13284 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Short History Of Women's +Rights, by Eugene A. Hecker.</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; justify: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 2em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11672 ***</div> + +<h1>A Short History of</h1> +<h1>Women's Rights</h1> +<br> +<br> +<h2>From the Days of Augustus to the Present +Time. <br> +</h2> +<h2>With Special Reference to +England and the United States</h2> +<h3>By</h3> +<h1>Eugene A. Hecker</h1> +<br> +<br> +<p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><i>SECOND EDITION +REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS</i></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h3>To</h3> +<h3>MY MOTHER</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="PREFACE2"></a> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION</h2> +<br> +<p>In this edition a chapter has been added, bringing +down to date the record of the contest for +equal suffrage. The summary on pages 175-235 +is now largely obsolete; but it has been retained +as instructive evidence of the rapid progress made +during the last four years.</p> +<p>E.A.H.</p> +<p>CAMBRIDGE, MASS. +<i>August, 1914</i>.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="PREFACE"></a> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> +<p>While making some researches in the evolution +of women's rights, I was impressed +by the fact that no one had ever, as far as I could +discover, attempted to give a succinct account of +the matter for English-speaking nations. Indeed, +I do not believe that any writer in any country +has essayed such a task except Laboulaye; and +his <i>Recherches sur la Condition Civile et Politique +des Femmes</i>, published in 1843, leaves much to +be desired to one who is interested in the subject +to-day.</p> +<p>I have, therefore, made an effort to fill a lack. +This purpose has been strengthened as I have +reflected on the great amount of confused information +which is absorbed by those who have no +time to make investigations for themselves. +Accordingly, in order to present an accurate historical +review, I have cited my authorities for +all statements regarding which any question could +be raised. This is particularly so in the chapters +which deal with the condition of women under +Roman Law, under the early Christian Church, +and under Canon Law. In all these instances I +have gone directly to primary sources, have +investigated them myself, and have admitted +no secondhand evidence. In connection with +Women's rights in England and in the United +States I have either consulted the statutes or +studied the commentaries of jurists, like Messrs. +Pollock and Maitland, whose authority cannot +be doubted. To such I have given the exact +references whenever they have been used. In +preparing the chapter on the progress of women's +lights in the United States I derived great +assistance from the very exhaustive <i>History of +Woman Suffrage</i>, edited by Miss Susan B. +Anthony, Mrs. Ida H. Harper, and others to +whose unselfish labours we are for ever indebted. +From their volumes I have drawn freely; but I +have not given each specific reference.</p> +<p>The tabulation of the laws of the several States +which I have given naturally cannot be entirely +adequate, because the laws are being changed +constantly. It is often difficult to procure the +latest revised statutes. However, these laws are +recent enough to illustrate the evolution of women's +rights.</p> +<p>Finally, this volume was written in no hope that +all readers would agree with the author, who is +zealous in his cause. His purpose will be gained +if he induces the reader to reflect for himself on +the problem in the light of its historical development.</p> +<p>E.A.H.</p> +<p>CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 1910.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></p> +<p>WOMEN'S RIGHTS UNDER ROMAN LAW, 27 B.C.-527 A.D.</p> +<p>Originally women were always under guardianship—But +under the Empire the entire equality of the sexes was +recognised—Women in marriage—Their power over +their property—Divorce—Women engaged in all business +pursuits—Instances of women suing and pleading +in law—Partiality of the law towards women—Rights +of inheritance—Rights to higher education fully allowed—Provision made +for poor children to be educated—The +Vestals—Female slaves—Remarkable growth of +humanitarianism towards slaves under the Empire—Sources</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></p> +<p>WOMEN AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH</p> +<p>Christ laid down ethical principles but not minute regulations—The +Apostles affected by Jewish and Oriental or +Greek conceptions of women—Examples of these—St. +Paul and St. Peter on the position of women—The +Church Fathers elaborated these teachings—Examples +of their contempt for women—Mingled with admiration +for particular types of women—Their views of +marriage—Their strictures on unbecoming dress—Summary +of their views and how the status of women +was affected by them—Sources</p> +<br> + +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></p> +<p>RIGHTS OF WOMEN AS MODIFIED BY THE CHRISTIAN +EMPERORS</p> +<p>Old Roman Law not abrogated suddenly—Divorce—Adultery—Second +marriages—Engagements—Donations +between husband and wife—Sundry enactments on +marriage—Inheritance—Guardianship—Bills of Attainder +of Christian Emperors merciless, in contrast to +acts of pagan predecessors—Sources</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></p> +<p>WOMEN AMONG THE GERMANIC PEOPLES</p> +<p>A second world force to modify the status of women—Accounts +of Caesar and Tacitus on position of women +among Germanic peoples—The written laws of the +barbarians—Guardianship—Marriage—Power of the +husband—Divorce—Adultery—The Church indulgent +to kings—Remarriage—Property rights—Peculiarities +of the criminal law—Minutely-graded fines—Compurgation +and ordeals—Innocence tested by the +woman walking over red-hot ploughshares—Women +in slavery—Comparison of position of women under +Roman and under Germanic laws—Influence of theology—Sources</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></p> +<p>DIGRESSION ON THE LATER HISTORY OF ROMAN LAW</p> +<p>Explanation of the various social and political forces which +affected the position of women in the Middle Ages</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></p> +<p>THE CANON LAW AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH</p> +<p>Canon law reaffirms the subjection of women—Women and +marriage—Protection to women—Divorce—Cardinal +Gibbons on protection of injured wives by Popes—Catholic +Church has no divorce—But it allows fourteen +reasons for declaring marriage null and void and leaving +a husband or wife free to remarry—Some of these explained—Diriment +impediments and dispensations—Historical +instances of the Roman Church's inconsistency—Attitude +towards women at present day—Opinions +of Cardinals Gibbon and Moran, and Rev. David +Barry and Rev. William Humphrey—Sources</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></p> +<p>WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN ENGLAND</p> +<p>Single women have always had private rights—But males +preferred in inheritance—Examples—Power of parents—Husband +and wife—Wife completely controlled by +husband—He could beat her and own all her property—Recent +abrogation of the husband's power—Divorce—Jeremy +Taylor and others on duty of women to bear +husband's sins with meekness—Injustice of the present +law of divorce—Rape and the age of legal consent—Progress +of the rights to an education—Women in the +professions—Woman suffrage—Sources</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></p> +<p>WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES</p> +<p>Examples of the early opposition to women's rights—Age +of consent—Single women—History of agitation for +women's rights—Convention of 1848—Progress after +the Civil War—Beginnings of higher education—First +women in medicine—And in law, the ministry, journalism, +and industry—Status of women in all the States +in 1910—Sources</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></p> +<p>GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS</p> +<p>The five arguments commonly used against equal suffrage—The +theological—The physiological—The social or political—The +intellectual—The moral—Lecky on the +nature of women—The old and the new conception—Thomas +on the power of custom—Taboo—All evolution +accompanied by some extravagance—Macaulay +on liberty—The double standard of morality—Co-operation—The +proper sphere for a human being—Discrepancies +of wages—Legal evolution in the interpretation +of labour laws—The alarmist view of divorce</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></p> +<p>FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS</p> +<p>The rapid spread of suffrage throughout the world—Table +of suffrage gains from early times to present date—In +national politics in the United States—Attack on the +suffrage parade and colloquy between Mr. Hobson +and Mr. Mann on the subject—Suffrage amendment +defeated in the Senate—Mr. Heflin's remarks in the +House—Mr. Falconer replies—President Wilson refuses +to take a stand—Amendment lost—Mr. Bryan on +suffrage—Examples of legislation to protect women +passed recently—The tendency is to complete equality +of the sexes—Suffrage in England—A delayed reform in +divorce—Women's rights on the Continent—Especially +in Germany—Schopenhauer's views of women—Further +remarks on the philosophy of suffrage—"Woman's +sphere"—Ultimate results of women entering +all businesses and professions—Feminism—The +home is not necessarily every woman's sphere and +neither is motherhood nor is it her congenital duty to +make herself attractive to men—Unreasonableness of +gratuitous advice to women and none to men—What +we don't know—Fallacy of the argument that the fall +of the Roman Empire was due to the liberty given to +woman—Official organs of various suffrage societies</p> +<br> +<p><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_1"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<h2>WOMEN'S RIGHTS UNDER ROMAN LAW, FROM +AUGUSTUS TO JUSTINIAN—27 B.C. TO +527 A.D.</h2> +<br> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Guardianship.</div> +<p>The age of legal capability for the Roman +woman was after the twelfth year, at which +period she was permitted to make a will.<a name="FNanchor_1"></a><a + href="#Footnote_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +However, she was by no means allowed +to do so entirely on her own account, but only +under supervision.<a name="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> +This superintendence was +vested in the father or, if he was dead, in a guardian<a + name="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>; +if the woman was married, the power belonged +to the husband. The consent of such +supervision, whether of father, husband, or +<a name="Page_2"></a>guardian, was essential, as Ulpian informs us,<a + name="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> +under these circumstances: if the woman entered +into any legal action, obligation, or civil contract; +if she wished her freedwoman to cohabit with +another's slave; if she desired to free a slave; if +she sold any things <i>mancipi</i>, that is, such as +estates on Italian soil, houses, rights of road or +aqueduct, slaves, and beasts of burden. Throughout +her life a woman was supposed to remain +absolutely under the power<a name="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> +of father, husband, or +guardian, and to do nothing without their consent. +In ancient times, indeed, this authority was so +great that the father and husband could, after +calling a family council, put the woman to death +without public trial.<a name="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> +The reason that women +were so subjected to guardianship was "on account +of their unsteadiness of character,"<a name="FNanchor_7"></a><a + href="#Footnote_7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> "the weakness +of the sex," and their "ignorance of legal +matters."<a name="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> +Under certain circumstances, however, +women became <i>sui iuris</i> or entirely independent: +I. By the birth of three children +(a freedwoman by four)<a name="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9"><sup>[9]</sup></a>; +II. By becoming a +Vestal Virgin, of whom there were but six<a name="FNanchor_10"></a><a + href="#Footnote_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a>; III. +By a formal emancipation, which took place +<a name="Page_3"></a>rarely, and then often only with a view of +transferring +the power from one guardian to another.<a name="FNanchor_11"></a><a + href="#Footnote_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> +Even when <i>sui iuris</i> a woman could not acquire +power over any one, not even over her own children<a name="FNanchor_12"></a><a + href="#Footnote_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a>; +for these an agnate—a male relative on the +father's side—was appointed guardian, and the +mother was obliged to render him and her children +an account of any property which she had +managed for them.<a name="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> +On the other hand, her +children were bound to support her.<a name="FNanchor_14"></a><a + href="#Footnote_14"><sup>[14]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote">Digression on the growth of respect for women</div> +<p>So much for the laws on the subject. They +seem rigorous enough, and in early times were +doubtless executed with strictness. A +marked feature, however, of the Roman +character, a peculiarity which at once +strikes the student of their history as compared +with that of the Greeks, was their great respect +for the home and the <i>materfamilias</i>. The stories +of Lucretia, Cloelia, Virginia, Cornelia, Arria, +and the like, familiar to every Roman schoolboy, +must have raised greatly the esteem in which +women were held. As Rome became a world +power, the Romans likewise grew in breadth of +view, in equity, and in tolerance. The political +<a name="Page_4"></a>influence wielded by women<a name="FNanchor_15"></a><a + href="#Footnote_15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> was as great during +the first three centuries after Christ as it has ever +been at any period of the world's history; and the +powers of a Livia, an Agrippina, a Plotina, did not +fail to show pointedly what a woman could do. +In the early days of the Republic women who +touched wine were severely punished and male +relatives were accustomed solemnly to kiss them, +if haply they might discover the odour of drink on +their breath.<a name="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> +Valerius Maximus tells us that +<a name="Page_5"></a>Egnatius Mecenas, a Roman knight, beat his +wife to death for drinking wine.<a name="FNanchor_17"></a><a + href="#Footnote_17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> Cato the Censor +(234-149 B.C.) dilated with joy on the fact that a +woman could be condemned to death by her husband +for adultery without a public trial, whereas +men were allowed any number of infidelities +without censure.<a name="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> +The senator Metellus (131 B.C.) +lamented that Nature had made it necessary to +have women.<a name="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19"><sup>[19]</sup></a></p> +<p>The boorish cynicism of a Cato and a Metellus—though +it never expressed the real feelings of the +majority of Romans—gave way, however, under +the Empire to a generous expression of the equality +of the sexes in the realms of morality and of +intellect. "I know what you may say," writes +Seneca to Marcia,<a name="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> +"'You have forgotten that +you are consoling a woman; you cite examples of +fortitude on the part of men.' But who said that +Nature had acted scurvily with the characters of +women and had contracted their virtues into a +narrow sphere? Equal force, believe me, is +possessed by them; equal capability for what is +<a name="Page_6"></a>honorable, if they so wish." The Emperor Marcus +Aurelius gratefully recalls that from his mother he +learned piety and generosity, and to refrain not +only from doing ill, but even from thinking it, +and simplicity of life, far removed from the +ostentatious display of wealth.<a name="FNanchor_21"></a><a + href="#Footnote_21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> The passionate +attachment of men like Quintilian and Pliny to +their wives exhibits an equality based on love that +would do honour to the most Christian households.<a name="FNanchor_22"></a><a + href="#Footnote_22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> +All Roman historians speak with great admiration +of the many heroic deeds performed by women +and are fond of citing conspicuous examples of +conjugal affection.<a name="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> +The masterly and <a name="Page_7"></a>sympathetic +delineation of Dido in the <i>Aeneid</i> shows +how deeply a Roman could appreciate the character +of a noble woman. In the numerous provisions +for the public education at the state's expense +girls were given the same opportunities and +privileges as boys; there were five thousand boys +and girls educated by Trajan alone.<a name="FNanchor_24"></a><a + href="#Footnote_24"><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Decay of the power or the guardian.</div> +<p>Such are a few examples of the growth of respect +for women; and we should naturally conclude +that, as time progressed, the unjust +laws of guardianship would no longer +be executed to the letter, even though +the hard statutes were not formally expunged. +This was the case during the first three centuries +after Christ, as is patent from many sources. It +is to be borne in mind that because a law is on the +books, does not mean necessarily that it is enforced. +A law is no stronger than public opinion. +Of this anomaly there are plenty of instances even +to-day—the Blue Laws of Massachusetts, for +example. "That women of mature age should be +under guardianship," writes the great jurist +Gaius<a name="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> +in the second century, "seems to have no +valid reason as foundation. For what is commonly +believed, to the effect that on account of +unsteadiness of character they are generally +<a name="Page_8"></a>hoodwinked, and that, therefore, it is right for +them to be governed by the authority of a guardian, +seems rather specious than true. As a matter of +fact, women of mature age do manage their +own affairs, and in certain cases the guardian +interposes his authority as a mere formality; +frequently, indeed, he is forced by the supreme +judge to lend his authority against his will." +Ulpian, too, hints at the really slight power of the +guardian in his day, that is, the first three decades +of the third century. "In the case of male and +female wards under age, the guardians both +manage their affairs and interpose their authority; +but in the case of mature women they merely +interpose their authority."<a name="FNanchor_26"></a><a + href="#Footnote_26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> The woman had, in +practice, become free to manage her property as +she wished; the function of the legal guardian +was simply to see to it that no one should attempt +a fraud against her. Adequately to observe the +decay of the vassalage of women, we must investigate +the story of their rights in all its forms; +and the position of women in marriage will next +occupy our attention.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women and marriage.</div> +<p>As in all Southern countries where women +mature early, the Roman girl usually married +<a name="Page_9"></a>young; twelve years were required by custom +for her to reach the marriageable age.<a name="FNanchor_27"></a><a + href="#Footnote_27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> In the +earlier period a woman was acquired +as wife in three different ways: I. By +<i>coemptio</i>—a mock sale to her husband<a name="FNanchor_28"></a><a + href="#Footnote_28"><sup>[28]</sup></a>; II. By +<i>confarreatio</i>—a solemn marriage with peculiar +sacred rites to qualify men and women and their +children for certain priesthoods<a name="FNanchor_29"></a><a + href="#Footnote_29"><sup>[29]</sup></a>; III. By <i>usus</i>, +or acquisition by prescription. A woman became +a man's legal wife by <i>usus</i> if he had lived with +her one full year and if, during that time, she had +not been absent from him for more than three +successive nights.<a name="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30"><sup>[30]</sup></a></p> +<p>All these forms, however, had either been +abolished by law or had fallen into desuetude +during the second century of our era, as is evident +from Gaius.<a name="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> +A man could marry even if not +present personally; a woman could not.<a name="FNanchor_32"></a><a + href="#Footnote_32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> The +woman's parents or guardians were accustomed +to arrange a match for her,<a name="FNanchor_33"></a><a + href="#Footnote_33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> as they still do in +many parts of Europe. Yet the power of the +<a name="Page_10"></a>father to coerce his daughter was limited. Her +consent was important. "A marriage cannot +exist," remarks Paulus, "unless all parties consent."<a + name="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34"><sup>[34]</sup></a> +Julianus writes also that the daughter +must give her permission<a name="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35"><sup>[35]</sup></a>; +yet the statement +of Ulpian which immediately follows in the +Digest shows that she had not complete free will +in the matter: "It is understood that she who +does not oppose the wishes of her father gives +consent. But a daughter is allowed to object +only in case her father chooses for her a man of +unworthy or disgraceful character."<a name="FNanchor_36"></a><a + href="#Footnote_36"><sup>[36]</sup></a> The son +had an advantage here, because he could never +be forced into a marriage against his will.<a name="FNanchor_37"></a><a + href="#Footnote_37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> The +consent of the father was always necessary for a +valid marriage.<a name="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38"><sup>[38]</sup></a> +He could not by will compel +his daughter to marry a certain person.<a name="FNanchor_39"></a><a + href="#Footnote_39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> After +she was married, he still retained power over her, +unless she became independent by the birth of +three children; but this was largely to protect her +and represent her in court against her husband if +necessity should arise.<a name="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40"><sup>[40]</sup></a> +A father was not <a name="Page_11"></a>permitted +to break up a harmonious<a name="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> +marriage; +he could not get back his daughter's dowry without +her consent,<a name="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> +nor force her to return to her +husband after a divorce<a name="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43"><sup>[43]</sup></a>; +and he was punished +with loss of citizenship if he made a match for a +widowed daughter before the legal time of mourning +for her husband had expired.<a name="FNanchor_44"></a><a + href="#Footnote_44"><sup>[44]</sup></a> A daughter +passed completely out of the power of her father +only if she became <i>sui iuris</i> by the birth of three +children or if she became a Vestal, or again if she +married a special priest of Jupiter (<i>Flamen Dialis</i>), +in which case, however, she passed completely +into the power of her husband. Under all circumstances +a daughter must not only show respect +for her father, but also furnish him with the +necessaries of life if he needed them.<a name="FNanchor_45"></a><a + href="#Footnote_45"><sup>[45]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> "Breach of Promise."</div> +<p>Under the Empire no such thing as a "breach +of promise" suit was permitted, although in the +<a name="Page_12"></a>days of the Republic the party who broke a +promise +to marry had been liable to a suit for damages.<a name="FNanchor_46"></a><a + href="#Footnote_46"><sup>[46]</sup></a> +But this had now disappeared, +and either party could break off the +betrothal at pleasure without prejudice.<a name="FNanchor_47"></a><a + href="#Footnote_47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> Whatever +gifts had been given might be demanded +back.<a name="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48"><sup>[48]</sup></a> +The engagement had to be formally +broken off before either party could enter into marriage +or betrothal with another; otherwise he or she +lost civil status.<a name="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49"><sup>[49]</sup></a> +While an engagement lasted, +the man could bring an action for damages against +any one who insulted or injured his fiancée.<a name="FNanchor_50"></a><a + href="#Footnote_50"><sup>[50]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Husband and Wife.</div> +<p>The Roman marriage was a purely civil contract +based on consent.<a name="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51"><sup>[51]</sup></a> +The definition given by +the law was a noble one. "Marriage is +the union of a man and a woman and +a partnership of all life; a mutual sharing of laws +human and divine."<a name="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52"><sup>[52]</sup></a> +The power of the husband +over the wife was called <i>manus</i>; and the wife +stood in the same position as a daughter.<a name="FNanchor_53"></a><a + href="#Footnote_53"><sup>[53]</sup></a> No +husband was allowed to have a concubine.<a name="FNanchor_54"></a><a + href="#Footnote_54"><sup>[54]</sup></a> He +was bound to support his wife adequately, look +<a name="Page_13"></a>out for her interests,<a name="FNanchor_55"></a><a + href="#Footnote_55"><sup>[55]</sup></a> and strictly to avenge +any insult or injury offered her<a name="FNanchor_56"></a><a + href="#Footnote_56"><sup>[56]</sup></a>; any abusive +treatment of the wife by the husband was punished +by an action for damages<a name="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57"><sup>[57]</sup></a>. +A wife was +compelled by law to go into solemn mourning +for a space of ten months upon the death of a +husband<a name="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58"><sup>[58]</sup></a>. +During the period of mourning she +was to abstain from social banquets, jewels, and +crimson and white garments<a name="FNanchor_59"></a><a + href="#Footnote_59"><sup>[59]</sup></a>. If she did not do +so, she lost civil status. The emperor Gordian, +in the year 238, remitted these laws so far as +solemn clothing and other external signs of +mourning above enumerated were concerned.<a name="FNanchor_60"></a><a + href="#Footnote_60"><sup>[60]</sup></a> +But a husband was not compelled to do any legal +mourning for the death of his wife.<a name="FNanchor_61"></a><a + href="#Footnote_61"><sup>[61]</sup></a></p> +<p>The wife was, as I have said, in the power of +her husband. Originally, no doubt, this power +was absolute; the husband could even put his wife +to death without a public trial. But the world +was progressing, and that during the first three +centuries after Christ the power of the husband +was reduced in practice to absolute nullity I shall +<a name="Page_14"></a>make clear in the following pages. I shall, +accordingly, first investigate the rights of the wife +over her dowry, that is, the right of managing her +own property.</p> +<p>Even from earliest times it is clear that the +wife had complete control of her dowry. The +henpecked husband who is afraid of offending his +wealthy wife is a not uncommon figure in the +comedies of Plautus and Terence; and Cato the +Censor growled in his usual amiable manner at +the fact that wives even in his day controlled completely +their own property.<a name="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> +The attitude of the +Roman law on the subject is clearly expressed. +"It is for the good of the state that women have +their dowries inviolate."<a name="FNanchor_63"></a><a + href="#Footnote_63"><sup>[63]</sup></a> "The dowry is always +and everywhere a chief concern; for it is for the +public good that dowries be retained for women, +since it is highly necessary that they be dowered +in order to bring forth offspring and replenish the +state with children."<a name="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64"><sup>[64]</sup></a> +"It is just that the income +of the dowry belong to the husband; for inasmuch +as it is he who stands the burdens of the +married state, it is fair that he also acquire the +interest."<a name="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65"><sup>[65]</sup></a> +"Nevertheless, the dowry belongs +<a name="Page_15"></a>to the woman, even though it is in the goods of +the +husband."<a name="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66"><sup>[66]</sup></a> +"A husband is not permitted to +alienate his wife's estate against her will."<a name="FNanchor_67"></a><a + href="#Footnote_67"><sup>[67]</sup></a> A +wife could use her dowry during marriage to +support herself, if necessary, or her kindred, +to buy a suitable estate, to help an exiled parent, +or to assist a needy husband, brother, or sister. +The numerous accounts in various authors of +the first three centuries after Christ confirm +the statement that the woman's power over +her dowry was absolute.<a name="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68"><sup>[68]</sup></a> +Then as now, a man +might put his property in his wife's name to +escape his creditors,<a name="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69"><sup>[69]</sup></a>—a +useless proceeding, if +she had not had complete control of her own +property.</p> +<p>When the woman died, her dowry, if it had been +given by the father (<i>dos profecticia</i>) returned to the +latter; but if any one else had given it (<i>dos adventicia</i>), +the dowry remained with the husband, unless +the donor had expressly stipulated that it was +to be returned to himself at the woman's death +(<i>dos recepticia</i>),<a name="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70"><sup>[70]</sup></a> +In the case of a dowry of +the +first kind, the husband might retain what he had +<a name="Page_16"></a>expended for his wife's funeral.<a + name="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71"><sup>[71]</sup></a> +The dowry was +confiscated to the state if the woman was convicted +of lèse majesté, violence against the state, or +murder.<a name="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72"><sup>[72]</sup></a> +If she suffered punishment involving +loss of civil status under any other law which did +not assess the penalty of confiscation, the husband +acquired the dowry just as if she were dead. +Banishment operated as no impediment; if the +woman wished to leave her husband under these +circumstances, her father could recover the dowry.<a name="FNanchor_73"></a><a + href="#Footnote_73"><sup>[73]</sup></a></p> +<p>A further confirmation of the power of the wife +over her property is the law that prohibited gifts +between husband and wife; obviously, a woman +could not be said to have the power of making +a gift if she had no right of property of her own. +The object of the law mentioned was to prevent +the husband and wife from receiving any lasting +damage to his or her property by giving of it +under the impulse of conjugal affection.<a name="FNanchor_74"></a><a + href="#Footnote_74"><sup>[74]</sup></a> This +statute acted powerfully to prevent a husband +from wheedling a wife out of her goods; and in case +the latter happened to be of a grasping disposition +the law was a protection to the husband and +hence to the children, his heirs, for whose interests +the Roman law constantly provided.</p> +<p><a name="Page_17"></a>Gifts between husband and wife were +nevertheless +valid under certain conditions. It was +permissible to make a present of clothing and to +bestow various tokens of affection, such as ornaments. +The husband could present his wife with +enough money to rebuild a house of hers which +had burned.<a name="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75"><sup>[75]</sup></a> +The Emperor Marcus Aurelius +permitted a wife to give her husband the sum +necessary to obtain public office or to become a +senator or knight or to give public games.<a name="FNanchor_76"></a><a + href="#Footnote_76"><sup>[76]</sup></a> A +gift was also legal if made by the husband in +apprehension that death might soon overtake +him; if, for instance, he was very sick or was +setting out to war, or to exile, or on a dangerous +journey.<a name="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77"><sup>[77]</sup></a> +The point in all gifts was, that neither +party should become richer by the donation.<a name="FNanchor_78"></a><a + href="#Footnote_78"><sup>[78]</sup></a></p> +<p>Some further considerations of the relation of +husband and wife will aid in setting forth the +high opinion which Roman law entertained of +marriage and its constant effort to protect the +wife as much as possible. A wife could not be +held in a criminal action if she committed theft +against her husband. The various statements +of the jurists make the matter clear. Thus +Paulus<a name="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79"><sup>[79]</sup></a>: +"A special action for the recovery of +<a name="Page_18"></a>property removed [<i>rerum amotarum iudicium</i>] +has +been introduced against her who was a wife, because +it has been decided that it is not possible +to bring a criminal action for theft against her +[<i>quid non placuit cum ea furti agere posse</i>]. Some—as +Nerva Cassius—think she cannot even commit +theft, on the ground that the partnership in +life made her mistress, as it were. Others—like +Sabinus and Proculus—hold that the wife can +commit theft, just as a daughter may against her +father, but that there can be no criminal action +by established law." "As a mark of respect +to the married state, an action involving disgrace +for the wife is refused."<a name="FNanchor_80"></a><a + href="#Footnote_80"><sup>[80]</sup></a> "Therefore she will be +held for theft if she touches the same things after +being divorced. So, too, if her slave commits +theft, we can sue her on the charge. But it is +possible to bring an action for theft even against +a wife, if she has stolen from him whose heirs we +are or before she married us; nevertheless, as a +mark of respect we say that in each case a formal +claim for restitution alone is admissible, but not +an action for theft."<a name="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81"><sup>[81]</sup></a> +"If any one lends help or +advice to a wife who is filching the property of +her husband, he shall be held for theft. If he +commits theft with her, he shall be held for theft, +although the woman herself is not held."<a name="FNanchor_82"></a><a + href="#Footnote_82"><sup>[82]</sup></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_19"></a>A husband who did not avenge the murder of +his wife lost all claims to her dowry, which was +then confiscated to the state; this by order of the +Emperor Severus.<a name="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83"><sup>[83]</sup></a></p> +<p>The laws on adultery are rather more lenient to +the woman than to the man. In the first place, +the Roman law insisted that it was unfair for a +husband to demand chastity on the part of his +wife if he himself was guilty of infidelity or did not +set her an example of good conduct,<a name="FNanchor_84"></a><a + href="#Footnote_84"><sup>[84]</sup></a>—a maxim +which present day lawyers may reflect upon with +profit. A father was permitted to put to death +<a name="Page_20"></a>his daughter and her paramour if she was still in +his power and if he caught her in the act at his +own house or that of his son-in-law; otherwise he +could not.<a name="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85"><sup>[85]</sup></a> +He must, however, put both man and +woman to death at once, when caught in the act; +to reserve punishment to a later date was unlawful. +The husband was not permitted to kill his wife; +he might kill her paramour if the latter was a man +of low estate, such as an actor, slave, or freedman, +or had been convicted on some criminal +charge involving loss of citizenship.<a name="FNanchor_86"></a><a + href="#Footnote_86"><sup>[86]</sup></a> The +reason that the father was given the power +which was denied the husband was that the +latter's resentment would be more likely to blind +his power of judging dispassionately the merits +of the case.<a name="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87"><sup>[87]</sup></a> +If now the husband forgot himself +and slew his wife, he was banished for life if of +noble birth, and condemned to perpetual hard +labour if of more humble rank.<a name="FNanchor_88"></a><a + href="#Footnote_88"><sup>[88]</sup></a> He must at once +divorce a wife guilty of adultery; otherwise he +was punished as a pander, and that meant loss +of citizenship.<a name="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89"><sup>[89]</sup></a> +Women convicted of adultery +were, when not put to death, punished by the +loss of half their dowry, a third part of their +other goods, and relegation to an island; guilty +<a name="Page_21"></a>men suffered the loss of half of their +possessions +and similar relegation to an island; but the guilty +parties were never confined in the same place.<a name="FNanchor_90"></a><a + href="#Footnote_90"><sup>[90]</sup></a> +We have mention also in several writers of some +curious and vicious punishments that might be +inflicted on men guilty of adultery.<a name="FNanchor_91"></a><a + href="#Footnote_91"><sup>[91]</sup></a></p> +<p>Now, all this seems rigorous enough; but, as I +have already remarked, we must beware of imagining +that a statute is enforced simply because +it stands in the code. As a matter of fact, public +sentiment had grown so humane in the first three +centuries after Christ that it did not for a moment +tolerate that a father should kill his daughter, +no matter how guilty she was; and in all our +records of that period no instance occurs. As to +husbands, we have repeated complaints in the +literature of the day that they had grown so +complaisant towards erring wives that they could +not be induced to prosecute them.<a name="FNanchor_92"></a><a + href="#Footnote_92"><sup>[92]</sup></a> A typical instance +is related by Pliny.<a name="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93"><sup>[93]</sup></a> +Pliny was summoned +by the Emperor Trajan to attend a council where, +among other cases, that of a certain Gallitta was +discussed. She had married a military tribune +and had committed adultery with a common +captain (<i>centurio</i>). Trajan sent the captain into +<a name="Page_22"></a>exile. The husband took no measures against +his wife, but went on living with her. Only by +coercion was he finally induced to prosecute. +Pliny informs us that the guilty woman had to be +condemned, even against the will of her accuser.</p> +<p>A woman guilty of incest received no punishment, +but the guilty man was deported to an +island.<a name="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94"><sup>[94]</sup></a> +If the incest involved adultery, the +woman was of course held on that charge.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Divorce</div> +<p>We come now to a matter where the growing +freedom of women reached its highest point—the +matter of divorce. Here again we have +to note the progress of toleration and humanitarianism. +In the early days of the Republic +the family tie was rarely severed. Valerius Maximus +tells us<a name="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95"><sup>[95]</sup></a> +of a quaint custom of the olden days, +to the effect that "whenever any quarrel arose +between husband and wife, they would proceed +to the chapel of the goddess Viriplaca ["Reconciler +of Husbands"], which is on the Palatine, and +there they would mutually express their feelings; +then, laying aside their anger, they returned home +reconciled." During these days a woman could +never herself take the initiative in divorce; the +husband was all-powerful. The first divorce +of which we have any record took place in the +year 231 B.C., when Spurius Carvilius Ruga put +away his wife for sterility. Public opinion censured +him severely for it "because people thought +<a name="Page_23"></a>that not even the desire for children ought to +have +been preferred to conjugal fidelity and affection."<a name="FNanchor_96"></a><a + href="#Footnote_96"><sup>[96]</sup></a> +As the Empire extended and Rome became more +worldly and corrupt, the reasons for divorce became +more trivial. Sempronius Sophus divorced +his wife because she had attended some public +games without his knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_97"></a><a + href="#Footnote_97"><sup>[97]</sup></a> Cicero, who +was a lofty moralist—on paper,—put away his +wife Terentia in order to marry a rich young +ward and get her money if he could. Maecenas, +the great prime-minister of Augustus, sent away +and took back his wife repeatedly at caprice—perhaps +he believed that variety is the spice of +life. But during all this time the husband alone +could annul marriage.<a name="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98"><sup>[98]</sup></a></p> +<p>Gradually, however, the status of women changed +and they were given greater and greater liberty. +Inasmuch as Roman marriage was a civil contract +based on consent, strict justice had to allow +that on this basis either party to the contract +might annul the marriage at his or her pleasure. +The result was that during the first three centuries +after Christ the wife had absolute freedom to take +the initiative and send her husband a divorce +whenever and for whatever reason she wished. +<a name="Page_24"></a>The proof of this fact is positively established +not +only from the statements of the jurists, but also +from numberless accounts in the other writers of +the day.<a name="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99"><sup>[99]</sup></a> +Divorce became, at least among the +higher strata of society, extraordinarily frequent. +That a lady of the Upper Four Hundred should +have been content with only one husband was +deemed worthy of special mention on her tomb; the +word <i>univira</i> (a woman of one husband) may +still be read on certain inscriptions. The satirists +are fond of dwelling on the license allowed to +women in the case of divorce. Martial, for instance,<a + name="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100"><sup>[100]</sup></a> +says that one Theselina married ten husbands +in one month. Still, allowing for the natural +exaggeration of satirists, we are yet reasonably sure +that divorce had reached great heights in the upper +classes. Whether it was as bad among the middle +classes is very improbable. There was one kind +of marriage which, originally at least, did not +admit of dissolution.<a name="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101"><sup>[101]</sup></a> +This was the solemn +marriage by <i>confarreatio</i>, already described, which +<a name="Page_25"></a>qualified the husband and wife for the special +priesthood of Jupiter. Women soon grew to +value their freedom too highly to enter it; as +early as 23 A.D. the Senate had to relax some of the +rigour of the old laws on the matter as a special +inducement for women to consent to enter this +union.<a name="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102"><sup>[102]</sup></a></p> +<p>We may now observe what became of the wife's +property after divorce and what her rights were +under such circumstances. If it was the husband +who had taken the initiative and had sent his wife +a divorce, and if the divorce was not the fault of +the woman, she at once had an action in law for +complete recovery of her dowry; on her own responsibility +if she was <i>sui iuris</i>, otherwise with +the help of her father.<a name="FNanchor_103"></a><a + href="#Footnote_103"><sup>[103]</sup></a> But even the woman still +under guardianship could act by herself if her +father was too sick or infirm or if she had no other +agent to act for her.<a name="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104"><sup>[104]</sup></a> +For the offence of +adultery +a husband had to pay back the dowry at once; +for lesser guilt he might return it in instalments +at intervals of six months.<a name="FNanchor_105"></a><a + href="#Footnote_105"><sup>[105]</sup></a> If, now, the divorce +was clearly the fault of the woman, her husband +could retain certain parts of the dowry in these +proportions: for adultery, a sixth part for each +of the children up to one half of the whole; for +lighter offences, an eighth part; if the husband had +<a name="Page_26"></a>gone to expense or had incurred civil obligations +for his wife's benefit or if she had removed any +of his property, he could recover the amount.<a name="FNanchor_106"></a><a + href="#Footnote_106"><sup>[106]</sup></a></p> +<p>A year and six months must elapse after a +divorce before the woman was allowed to marry +again.<a name="FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107"><sup>[107]</sup></a> +If at the time of the divorce she was +pregnant, her husband was obliged to support her +offspring, provided that within thirty days after +the separation she informed him of her condition.<a name="FNanchor_108"></a><a + href="#Footnote_108"><sup>[108]</sup></a> +She could sue her former husband for damages if +he insulted her.<a name="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109"><sup>[109]</sup></a> +Whether the children +should +stay with the mother or father was left to the +discretion of the judge.<a name="FNanchor_110"></a><a + href="#Footnote_110"><sup>[110]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Property rights of widows and single women.</div> +<p>The married woman had, as I have shown, +complete disposal of her own property. Let us +see next what rights those women had +over their possessions who were widows +or spinsters.</p> +<p>Roman Law constantly strove to protect the +children and laid it down as a maxim that the +property of their parents belonged to them.<a name="FNanchor_111"></a><a + href="#Footnote_111"><sup>[111]</sup></a> +<a name="Page_27"></a>A widow could not therefore, except by special +permission from the emperor,<a name="FNanchor_112"></a><a + href="#Footnote_112"><sup>[112]</sup></a> be the legal +guardian of her children, but must ask the court to +appoint one upon the death of her husband.<a name="FNanchor_113"></a><a + href="#Footnote_113"><sup>[113]</sup></a> +This was to prevent possible mismanagement and +because "to undertake the legal defence of others +is the office of men."<a name="FNanchor_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114"><sup>[114]</sup></a> +But she was permitted to +assume complete charge of her children's property +during their minority and enjoy the usufruct; +only she must render an account of the goods +when the children arrived at maturity.<a name="FNanchor_115"></a><a + href="#Footnote_115"><sup>[115]</sup></a> We +have many instances of women who managed their +children's patrimony and did it exceedingly well. +"You managed our patrimony in such wise," writes +Seneca to his mother,<a name="FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116"><sup>[116]</sup></a> +"that you exerted +yourself +as if it were yours and yet abstained from it as if +it belonged to others."<a name="FNanchor_117"></a><a + href="#Footnote_117"><sup>[117]</sup></a> Agricola, father-in-law +of +Tacitus, had such confidence in his wife's business +ability that he made her co-heir with his daughter +and the Emperor Domitian.<a name="FNanchor_118"></a><a + href="#Footnote_118"><sup>[118]</sup></a> A mother could +get an injunction to restrain extravagance on +<a name="Page_28"></a>the part of her children.<a name="FNanchor_119"></a><a + href="#Footnote_119"><sup>[119]</sup></a> +Women could not +adopt.<a name="FNanchor_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120"><sup>[120]</sup></a></p> +<p>Married women, spinsters, and widows had as +much freedom as men in disposing of property +by will. If there were children, the Roman law +put certain limitations on the testator's powers, +whether man or woman. By the Falcidian Law +no one was allowed to divert more than three +fourths of his estate from his (or her) natural +heirs.<a name="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121"><sup>[121]</sup></a> +But for any adequate cause a woman +could disinherit her children completely; and +there are many instances of this extant both in the +Law Books and in the literature of the day.<a name="FNanchor_122"></a><a + href="#Footnote_122"><sup>[122]</sup></a></p> +<p>Single women had grown absolutely unshackled +and even their guardians had become a mere +formality, as the words of Gaius, already quoted +(<a href="#Page_8">page 8</a>) prove. That they had complete disposal +of their property is proved furthermore +by the numerous complaints in Roman authors +about the sycophants who flattered and toadied the +wealthy ladies with an eye to being remembered +in their wills.<a name="FNanchor_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123"><sup>[123]</sup></a> +For it is evident that +if these +<a name="Page_29"></a>women had not had the power freely to dispose of +their own property, there would have been no +point in paying them such assiduous court. The +legal age of maturity was now twenty-five for +both male and female.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women engaged in business pursuits.</div> +<p>Women engaged freely in all business pursuits. +We find them in all kinds of retail trade and commerce,<a + name="FNanchor_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124"><sup>[124]</sup></a> +as members of guilds,<a name="FNanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125"><sup>[125]</sup></a> +in medicin<a name="FNanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126"><sup>[126]</sup></a> +innkeeping,<a name="FNanchor_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127"><sup>[127]</sup></a> +in vaudevil<a name="FNanchor_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128"><sup>[128]</sup></a>; +there +were even female barbers<a name="FNanchor_129"></a><a + href="#Footnote_129"><sup>[129]</sup></a> and charioteer<a + name="FNanchor_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130"><sup>[130]</sup></a> +Examples of women who toiled +for a living with their own hands are indeed very +old, as the widow, described by Homer, who +worked for a scanty wage to support her fatherless +children, or the wreathmaker, mentioned by +Aristophanes.<a name="FNanchor_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131"><sup>[131]</sup></a> +But such was the case only with +women of the lower classes; the lady of high birth +acted through her agents.<a name="FNanchor_132"></a><a + href="#Footnote_132"><sup>[132]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> The right of women to sue.</div> +<p><a name="Page_30"></a>When so many women were engaged in business, +occasions for lawsuits would naturally arise; we +shall see next what power the woman +had to sue. It was a standing maxim +of the law that a woman by herself +could not conduct a case in court.<a name="FNanchor_133"></a><a + href="#Footnote_133"><sup>[133]</sup></a> She had to +act through her agent, if she was independent, +otherwise through her guardian. The supreme +judge at Rome and the governor in a province +assigned an attorney to those who had no agent or +guardian.<a name="FNanchor_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134"><sup>[134]</sup></a> +But in this case again custom and +the law were at variance. Various considerations +will make it clear that women who sued had, in +practice, complete disposal of the matter. <span + style="font-weight: bold;">I</span>.—A +woman who was still under the power of her father +must, according to law, sue with him as her agent +or appoint an agent to act with him. Nevertheless, +a father could do nothing without the consent +of his daughter.<a name="FNanchor_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135"><sup>[135]</sup></a> +Obviously, then, so far +as the +power of the father was concerned, a woman had +practically the management of her suit. <span + style="font-weight: bold;">II</span>.—The +husband had no power. If he tried to browbeat +her as to what to do, she could send him a divorce, +a privilege which she had at her beck and call, +<a name="Page_31"></a>as we have seen; and then she could force him to +give her any guardian she wanted.<a name="FNanchor_136"></a><a + href="#Footnote_136"><sup>[136]</sup></a> <big>III</big>.—That the +authority of other guardians was in practice a +mere formality, I have already proved (<a href="#Page_7">pp. 7 </a>and +<a href="#Page_8">8</a>).</p> +<p>From these considerations it is clear that the +woman's wishes were supreme in the conduct of +any suit. Moreover, the law expressly states that +women may appoint whatever attorneys or agents +they desire, without asking the consent of their +legal guardians<a name="FNanchor_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137"><sup>[137]</sup></a>; +and thus they were at +liberty to +select a man who would manage things as they +might direct. There were cases where even the +strict letter of the law permitted women to lay +an action on their own responsibility alone: if, +when a suit for recovery of dowry was brought, +the father was absent or hindered by infirmities<a name="FNanchor_138"></a><a + href="#Footnote_138"><sup>[138]</sup></a>; +if the woman sued or was sued to get or render an +account of property managed in trust<a name="FNanchor_139"></a><a + href="#Footnote_139"><sup>[139]</sup></a>; to avenge +the death of a parent or children, or of patron or +patroness and their children<a name="FNanchor_140"></a><a + href="#Footnote_140"><sup>[140]</sup></a>; to lay bare any +matter pertaining to the public grain supply<a name="FNanchor_141"></a><a + href="#Footnote_141"><sup>[141]</sup></a>; +and to disclose cases of treason.<a name="FNanchor_142"></a><a + href="#Footnote_142"><sup>[142]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Instances of women pleading in public and suing.</div> +<p>We read of many cases of women pleading +<a name="Page_32"></a>publicly and bringing suit. Indeed, according +to Juvenal—who is, however, a pessimist by profession—the +ladies found legal proceedings +so interesting that bringing suit +became a passion with them as strong as +it had once been among the Athenians. +Thus Juvenal<a name="FNanchor_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143"><sup>[143]</sup></a>: +"There is almost no case in +which a woman wouldn't bring suit. Manilia +prosecutes, when she isn't a defendant. They +draw up briefs quite by themselves, and are ready +to cite principles and authorities to Celsus [a +celebrated lawyer of that time]." Of pleading in +public one of the celebrated instances was that of +Hortensia, daughter of the great orator Quintus +Hortensius, Cicero's rival. On an occasion when +matrons had been burdened with heavy taxes and +none of their husbands would fight the measure, +Hortensia pleaded the case publicly with great +success. All writers speak of her action and the +eloquence of her speech with great admiration.<a name="FNanchor_144"></a><a + href="#Footnote_144"><sup>[144]</sup></a> +We hear also of a certain Gaia Afrania, wife of a +Senator; she always conducted her case herself +before the supreme judge, "not because there was +any lack of lawyers," adds her respectable and +scandalised historian,<a name="FNanchor_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145"><sup>[145]</sup></a> +"but because she had +more +than enough of impudence."</p> +<p>Quintilian mentions several cases of women +<a name="Page_33"></a>being sued<a name="FNanchor_146"></a><a + href="#Footnote_146"><sup>[146]</sup></a>; Pliny tells how he +acted as attorney +for some<a name="FNanchor_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147"><sup>[147]</sup></a>; +and the Law Books will supply any one +curious in the matter with abundant examples.<a name="FNanchor_148"></a><a + href="#Footnote_148"><sup>[148]</sup></a> +A quotation from Pliny<a name="FNanchor_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149"><sup>[149]</sup></a> +will give an idea of the +kind of suit a woman might bring, and the great interest +aroused thereby: "Attia Viriola, a woman of +illustrious birth and married to a former supreme +judge, was disinherited by her eighty-year-old +father within eleven days after he had brought +Attia a stepmother. Attia was trying to regain +her share of her father's estate. One hundred and +eighty jurors sat in judgment. The tribunal was +crowded, and from the higher part of the court +both men and women strained over the railings in +their eagerness to hear (which was difficult), and +to see (which was easy)."</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Partiality of the law to women.</div> +<p>There were many legal qualifications designed +to help women evade the strict letter of the law +when this, if enforced absolutely, would +work injustice. Ignorance of the law, +if there was no criminal offence involving +good morals, was particularly accepted in the case +of women "on account of the weakness of the sex."<a name="FNanchor_150"></a><a + href="#Footnote_150"><sup>[150]</sup></a> +A typical instance of the growth of the desire to +help women, protect them as much as possible, +<a name="Page_34"></a>and stretch the laws in their favour, may be +taken +from the senatorial decree known as the Senatus +Consultum Velleianum.<a name="FNanchor_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151"><sup>[151]</sup></a> +This was an order +forbidding females to become sureties or defendants +for any one in a contract. But at the end of the +first century of our era the Senate voted that the +law be emended to help women and to give them +special privileges in every class of contract. "We +must praise the farsightedness of that illustrious +order," comments the great jurist Ulpian,<a name="FNanchor_152"></a><a + href="#Footnote_152"><sup>[152]</sup></a> "because +it brought aid to women on account of the +weakness of the sex, exposed, as it is, to many +mishaps of this sort."</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Rights of women to inherit.</div> +<p>The rights of women to inherit under Roman +law deserve some mention. Here again we may +note a steady growth of justice. Some +general examples will make this clearer, +before I treat of the specific powers of inheritance. +<span style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span>—In the year 169 B.C. the +Tribune Quintus +Voconius Saxa had a law passed which restricted +greatly the rights of women to inherit.<a name="FNanchor_153"></a><a + href="#Footnote_153"><sup>[153]</sup></a> According +to Dio<a name="FNanchor_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154"><sup>[154]</sup></a> +no woman was, by this statute, permitted +to receive more than 25,000 sesterces—1250 +dollars. In the second century after Christ, this +law had fallen into complete desuetude.<a name="FNanchor_155"></a><a + href="#Footnote_155"><sup>[155]</sup></a> <span + style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span>—By +<a name="Page_35"></a>the Falcidian Law, passed in the latter part of +the first century B.C., no citizen was allowed to +divert more than three fourths of his estate from +his natural heirs.<a name="FNanchor_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156"><sup>[156]</sup></a> +The Romans felt strongly +against any man who disinherited his children +without very good reason; the will of such a +parent was called <i>inofficiosum</i>, "made without +a proper feeling of duty," and the disinherited +children had an action at law to recover their +proper share.<a name="FNanchor_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157"><sup>[157]</sup></a> +A daughter was considered a +natural heir no less than a son and had equal +privileges in succession<a name="FNanchor_158"></a><a + href="#Footnote_158"><sup>[158]</sup></a>; and so women were +bound to receive some inheritance at least. <span + style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span>—It +is a sad commentary on Christian rulers that for +many ages they allowed the crimes of the father +to be visited upon his children and by their bills +of attainder confiscated to the state the goods +of condemned offenders. Now, the Roman law +stated positively that "the crime or punishment +<a name="Page_36"></a>of a father can inflict no stigma on his child."<a + name="FNanchor_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159"><sup>[159]</sup></a> +So +far as the goods of the father were concerned, the +property of three kinds of criminals escheated to +the crown: <span style="font-weight: bold;">(1)</span> those who +committed suicide +while under indictment for some crime,<a name="FNanchor_160"></a><a + href="#Footnote_160"><sup>[160]</sup></a> <span + style="font-weight: bold;">(2)</span> +forgers,<a name="FNanchor_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161"><sup>[161]</sup></a> +<span style="font-weight: bold;">(3)</span> those guilty of high treason<a + name="FNanchor_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162"><sup>[162]</sup></a>. +Yet +it seems reasonable to doubt whether these laws +were very often carried out strictly to the letter. +For example, the law did indeed hold that the +estate of a party guilty of treason was confiscated +to the state<a name="FNanchor_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163"><sup>[163]</sup></a>; +but even here it was expressly +ordained that the goods of the condemned man's +freedmen be reserved for his children.<a name="FNanchor_164"></a><a + href="#Footnote_164"><sup>[164]</sup></a> Moreover, +in actual practice we can find few instances +where the law was executed in its literal severity +even under the worst tyrants. It was Julius +Caesar who first set the splendid example of +allowing to the children of his dead foes full +enjoyment of their patrimonies.<a name="FNanchor_165"></a><a + href="#Footnote_165"><sup>[165]</sup></a> Succeeding +<a name="Page_37"></a>emperors followed the precedent.<a + name="FNanchor_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166"><sup>[166]</sup></a> +Tyrants like +Tiberius and Nero, strangely enough, in a majority +of cases overruled the Senate when it proposed +to confiscate the goods of those condemned for +treason, and allowed the children a large part +or all of the paternal estate.<a name="FNanchor_167"></a><a + href="#Footnote_167"><sup>[167]</sup></a> Hadrian gave +the children of proscribed offenders the twelfth +part of their father's goods.<a name="FNanchor_168"></a><a + href="#Footnote_168"><sup>[168]</sup></a> Antoninus Pius +gave them all.<a name="FNanchor_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169"><sup>[169]</sup></a> +There was a strong public feeling +against bills of attainder and this sentiment is +voiced by all writers of the Empire. The law +forbade wives to suffer any loss for any fault of +their husbands.<a name="FNanchor_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170"><sup>[170]</sup></a></p> +<p>Since we have now noticed that women could +inherit any amount, that they were bound to +receive something under their fathers' wills, and +that the guilt of their kin could inflict no prejudice +upon them in the way of bills of attainder involving +physical injury or civil status and, in +practice, little loss so far as inheriting property +<a name="Page_38"></a>was concerned, we may pass to a contemplation of +the specific legal rights of inheritance of women.</p> +<p>If women were to be disinherited, it was sufficient +to mention them in an aggregate; but males must +be mentioned specifically.<a name="FNanchor_171"></a><a + href="#Footnote_171"><sup>[171]</sup></a> If, however, they +were disinherited in an aggregate (<i>inter ceteros</i>), +some legacy had to be left them that they might +not seem to have been passed over through +forgetfulness.<a name="FNanchor_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172"><sup>[172]</sup></a> +I shall not concern myself particularly +with testate succession, because here +obviously the will of the testator could dispose +as he wished, except in so far as he was limited +by the Falcidian Law. The matter of intestate +succession may well claim our attention; for +therein we shall see what powers of inheritance +were given the female sex. The general principles +are explained by Gaius (iii, 1-38); and these +principles followed, in the main, the law as laid +down in the Twelve Tables (451 B.C.). According +to these, the estates of those who died intestate +belonged first of all to the children who were in +the power of the deceased at the time of his death; +there was no distinction of sex; the daughters +were entitled to precisely the same amount as +the sons.<a name="FNanchor_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173"><sup>[173]</sup></a> +If the children of the testator had +died, the grandson or granddaughter <i>through the +son</i> succeeded; or the great-grandson or great-<a name="Page_39"></a>granddaughter +through the <i>grandson</i>. If a son +a daughter were alive, as well as grandsons +and granddaughters through the <i>son</i>, they were +all equally called to the estate. The estate was +not divided per capita, but among families as a +whole; for example, if of two sons one only was +alive, but the other had left children, the testator's +surviving son received one half of the patrimony +and his grandchildren through his other son the +other half, to be divided among them severally. If, +then, there were six grandchildren, each received +one twelfth of the estate.</p> +<p>Here the powers of women to inherit stopped. +Beyond the tie of <i>consanguinitas</i>, that is, that of +daughter to father, or granddaughter through a +<i>son</i>, the female line must at once turn aside, and +had no powers; the estate descended to the <i>agnati</i>, +that is, male relatives on the father's side. Hence +a mother was shut out by a brother of the deceased +or by that brother's children. If there were no +<i>agnati</i>, the goods were given to the <i>gentiles</i>, male +relatives of the clan bearing the same name. +In fact, under this régime we may say that of the +female line the daughter alone was sure of inheriting +something.</p> +<p>In the days of the Empire some attempts were +made to be more just. It was enacted<a name="FNanchor_174"></a><a + href="#Footnote_174"><sup>[174]</sup></a> that all +the children should be called to the estate, whether +they had been under the power of the testator +at the time of his death or not; and female relatives +<a name="Page_40"></a>were now allowed to come in for their share "in +the third degree," that is, if there was neither a +child or an agnate surviving. This was not +much of an improvement; and the principle of +agnate succession is the only point in which +Roman law failed to give to women those +equal rights which it allowed them in other +cases.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Protection of property of children.</div> +<p>There is no point on which Roman law laid +more stress than that the children, both male and +female, were to be constantly protected +and must receive their legal share of +their father's or mother's goods. After a +husband's divorce or death his wife could, indeed, +enjoy possession of the property and the usufruct; +but the principal had to be conserved intact for +the children until they arrived at maturity. In +the same way a father was obliged to keep untouched +for the children whatever had been left +them by the mother on her decease<a name="FNanchor_175"></a><a + href="#Footnote_175"><sup>[175]</sup></a>; and he must +also leave them that part, at least, of his own +property prescribed by the Falcidian Law. A +case—and it was common enough in real life— +such as that described by Dickens in <i>David +Copperfield</i>, where, by the English law, a second +husband acquired absolute right over his wife's +property and shut out her son, would have been +<a name="Page_41"></a>impossible under Roman law. Neither husband +nor wife could succeed to one another's intestate +estate absolutely unless there were no children, +parents, or other relatives living.<a name="FNanchor_176"></a><a + href="#Footnote_176"><sup>[176]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Punishment of crimes against women.</div> +<p>Rape of a woman was punished by death; +accessories to the crime merited the same penalty.<a name="FNanchor_177"></a><a + href="#Footnote_177"><sup>[177]</sup></a> +Indecent exposure before a virgin met +with punishment out of course.<a name="FNanchor_178"></a><a + href="#Footnote_178"><sup>[178]</sup></a> Kidnapping +was penalised by hard labour in +the mines or by crucifixion in the case of those +of humble birth, and by confiscation of half the +goods and by perpetual exile in the case of a +noble.<a name="FNanchor_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179"><sup>[179]</sup></a> +Temporary exile was visited upon those +guilty of abortion themselves<a name="FNanchor_180"></a><a + href="#Footnote_180"><sup>[180]</sup></a>; if it was caused +through the agency of another, the agent, even +though he or she did so without evil intent, was +punished by hard labour in the mines, if of humble +birth, and by relegation to an island and confiscation +of part of their goods, if of noble rank.<a name="FNanchor_181"></a><a + href="#Footnote_181"><sup>[181]</sup></a> If +<a name="Page_42"></a>the victim died, the person who caused the +abortion was put to death.<a name="FNanchor_182"></a><a + href="#Footnote_182"><sup>[182]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Rights of women to an education.</div> +<p>The rights of women to an education were not +questioned. That Sulpicia could publish amatory +poems in honour of her husband and +receive eulogies from writers like Martial<a name="FNanchor_183"></a><a + href="#Footnote_183"><sup>[183]</sup></a> +shows that she and ladies like her +occupied somewhat the same position as Olympia +Morata and Tarquinia Molza later in Italy during +the Renaissance, or like some of the celebrated +Frenchwomen, such as Madame de Staël. Seneca +addresses a <i>Dialogue on Consolation</i> to one Marcia; +such an idea would have made the hair of any +Athenian gentleman in the time of Socrates stand +on end. Aspasia was obliged to be a courtesan in +order to become educated and to frequent cultivated +society<a name="FNanchor_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184"><sup>[184]</sup></a>; +Sulpicia was a noble matron in +good standing. The world had not stood still +since Socrates had requested some one to take +Xanthippe home, lest he be burdened by her +sympathy in his last moments. Pains were taken +that the Roman girl of wealth should have special +tutors.<a name="FNanchor_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185"><sup>[185]</sup></a> +"Pompeius Saturninus recently read me +some letters," writes Pliny<a name="FNanchor_186"></a><a + href="#Footnote_186"><sup>[186]</sup></a> to one of his <a + name="Page_43"></a>correspondents, +"which he insisted had been written +by his wife. I believed that Plautus or Terence +was being read in prose. Whether they are really +his wife's, as he maintains; or his own, which he +denies; he deserves equal honour, either because he +composes them, or because he has made his wife, +whom he married when a mere girl, so learned +and polished." The enthusiasm of the ladies for +literature is attested by Persius.<a name="FNanchor_187"></a><a + href="#Footnote_187"><sup>[187]</sup></a></p> +<p>According to Juvenal, who, as an orthodox +satirist, was not fond of the weaker sex, women +sometimes became over-educated. He growls +as follows<a name="FNanchor_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188"><sup>[188]</sup></a>: +"That woman is a worse nuisance +than usual who, as soon as she goes to bed, praises +Vergil; makes excuses for doomed Dido; pits bards +against one another and compares them; and +weighs Homer and Maro in the balance. Teachers +of literature give way, professors are vanquished, +the whole mob is hushed, and no lawyer or auctioneer +will speak, nor any other woman." The +prospect of a learned wife filled the orthodox +Roman with peculiar horror.<a name="FNanchor_189"></a><a + href="#Footnote_189"><sup>[189]</sup></a> No Roman woman +ever became a public professor as did Hypatia or, +<a name="Page_44"></a>ages later, Bitisia Gozzadina, who, in the +thirteenth +century, became doctor of canon and civil law at +the University of Bologna.</p> +<p>I have been speaking of women of the wealthier +classes; but the poor were not neglected. As far +back as the time of the Twelve Tables—450 B.C.—parents of moderate +means were accustomed to +club together and hire a schoolroom and a teacher +who would instruct the children, girls no less than +boys, in at least the proverbial three R's. Virginia +was on her way to such a school when she encountered +the passionate gaze of Appius Claudius. +Such grammar schools, which boys and girls +attended together, flourished under the Empire as +they had under the Republic.<a name="FNanchor_190"></a><a + href="#Footnote_190"><sup>[190]</sup></a> They were not +connected with the state, being supported by the +contributions of individual parents. To the end +we cannot say that there was a definite scheme +of public education for girls at the state's expense +as there was for boys.<a name="FNanchor_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191"><sup>[191]</sup></a> +Still, the emperors did +something. Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, +Marcus Aurelius, and Alexander Severus, for +example, regularly supplied girls and boys with +<a name="Page_45"></a>education at public expense<a name="FNanchor_192"></a><a + href="#Footnote_192"><sup>[192]</sup></a>; +under Trajan there +were 5000 children so honoured. Public-spirited +citizens were also accustomed to contribute +liberally to the same cause; Pliny on one occasion<a name="FNanchor_193"></a><a + href="#Footnote_193"><sup>[193]</sup></a> +gave the equivalent of $25,000 for the support +and instruction of indigent boys and girls.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> The Vestals.</div> +<p>It may not be out of place to speak briefly of the +Vestal Virgins, the six priestesses of Vesta, who are +the only instances in pagan antiquity of +anything like the nuns of the Christians. +The Vestals took a vow of perpetual chastity.<a name="FNanchor_194"></a><a + href="#Footnote_194"><sup>[194]</sup></a> +They passed completely out of the power of their +parents and became entirely independent. They +could not receive the inheritance of any person +who died intestate, and no one could become heir +to a Vestal who died intestate. They were +allowed to be witnesses in court in public trials, +a privilege denied other women. Peculiar honour +was accorded them and they were regularly +appointed the custodians of the wills of the +emperors.<a name="FNanchor_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195"><sup>[195]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Female slaves.</div> +<p>The position of women in slavery merits some +attention, in view of the huge multitudes that +<a name="Page_46"></a>were held in bondage. Roman law +acknowledged no legal rights on the part of slaves<a name="FNanchor_196"></a><a + href="#Footnote_196"><sup>[196]</sup></a>. +The master had absolute power of life +and death.<a name="FNanchor_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197"><sup>[197]</sup></a> +They were exposed to every +whim of master or mistress without redress.<a name="FNanchor_198"></a><a + href="#Footnote_198"><sup>[198]</sup></a> If +some one other than their owner harmed them +they might obtain satisfaction through their +master and for his benefit; but the penalty for the +aggressor was only pecuniary.<a name="FNanchor_199"></a><a + href="#Footnote_199"><sup>[199]</sup></a> A slave's evidence +was never admitted except under torture.<a name="FNanchor_200"></a><a + href="#Footnote_200"><sup>[200]</sup></a> If +a master was killed, every slave of his household +and even his freedmen and freedwomen were put to +torture, although the culprit may already have +been discovered, in order to ascertain the instigator +of the plot and his remotest accessories.<a name="FNanchor_201"></a><a + href="#Footnote_201"><sup>[201]</sup></a></p> +<p>The earlier history of Rome leaves no doubt +that before the Republic fell these laws were +carried out with inhuman severity. With the +growth of Rome into a world power and the +consequent rise of humanitarianism<a name="FNanchor_202"></a><a + href="#Footnote_202"><sup>[202]</sup></a> a strong public +<a name="Page_47"></a>feeling against gratuitous cruelty towards slaves +sprang up. This may be illustrated by an +event which happened in the reign of Nero, in the +year 58, when a riot ensued out of sympathy for +some slaves who had been condemned <i>en masse</i> +after their master had been assassinated by one of +them.<a name="FNanchor_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203"><sup>[203]</sup></a> +Measures were gradually introduced for +alleviating the hardships and cruelties of slavery. +Claudius (41-54 A.D.) ordained<a name="FNanchor_204"></a><a + href="#Footnote_204"><sup>[204]</sup></a> that since sick +and infirm slaves were being exposed on an island +in the Tiber sacred to Aesculapius, because their +masters did not wish to bother about attending +them, all those who were so exposed were to be set +free if they recovered and never to be returned into +the power of their masters; and if any owner preferred +to put a slave to death rather than expose +him, he was to be held for murder. Gentlemen +began to speak with contempt of a master or +mistress who maltreated slaves.<a name="FNanchor_205"></a><a + href="#Footnote_205"><sup>[205]</sup></a> Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) +modified the old laws to a remarkable +degree: he forbade slaves to be put to death by +their masters and commanded them to be tried by +<a name="Page_48"></a>regularly appointed judges; he brought it about +that a slave, whether male or female, was not to be +sold to a slave-dealer or trainer for public shows +without due cause; he did away with <i>ergastula</i> +or workhouses, in which slaves guilty of offences +were forced to work off their penalties in chains +and were confined to filthy dungeons; and he +modified the law previously existing to the extent +that if a master was killed in his own house, the +inquisition by torture could not be extended to +the whole household, but to those only who, by +proximity to the deed, could have noticed it.<a name="FNanchor_206"></a><a + href="#Footnote_206"><sup>[206]</sup></a> +Gaius observes<a name="FNanchor_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207"><sup>[207]</sup></a> +that for slaves to be in complete +subjection to masters who have power of life and +death is an institution common to all nations, +"But at this time," he continues, "it is permitted +neither to Roman citizens nor any other men who +are under the sway of the Roman people to vent +their wrath against slaves beyond measure and +without reason. In fact, by a decree of the +sainted Antoninus (138-161 A.D.) a master who +without cause kills his slave is ordered to be held +no less than he who kills another's slave.<a name="FNanchor_208"></a><a + href="#Footnote_208"><sup>[208]</sup></a> An +excessive severity on the part of masters is also +checked by a constitution of the same prince. +On being consulted by certain governors about +those slaves who rush for refuge to the shrines of +<a name="Page_49"></a>the gods or the statues of emperors, he ordered +that if the cruelty of masters seemed intolerable +they should be compelled to sell their slaves." +Severus ordained that the city prefect should +prevent slaves from being prostituted<a name="FNanchor_209"></a><a + href="#Footnote_209"><sup>[209]</sup></a>. Aurelian +gave his slaves who had transgressed to be heard +according to the laws by public judges<a name="FNanchor_210"></a><a + href="#Footnote_210"><sup>[210]</sup></a>. Tacitus +procured a decree that slaves were not to be put +to inquisitorial torture in a case affecting a master's +life, not even if the charge was high treason<a name="FNanchor_211"></a><a + href="#Footnote_211"><sup>[211]</sup></a>. So +much for the laws that mitigated slavery under +the Empire. They were not ideal; but they would +in more respects than one compare favourably +with the similar legislation that was in force, prior +to the Civil War, in the American Slave States.</p> +<br> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">SOURCES</h4> +<p>I. Iurisprudentiae Anteiustinianae quae Supersunt. ed. Ph. +Eduardus Huschke. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1886 (fifth edition).</p> +<p>II. Codex Iustinianus. Recensuit Paulus Krueger. Berolini +apud Weidmannos, 1877.</p> +<p>Corpus Iuris Civilis: Institutiones recognovit Paulus +Krueger; Digesta recognovit Theodorus Mommsen. Berolini +apud Weidmannos, 1882.</p> +<p>Novellae: Corpus Iuris Civilis. Volumen Tertium recognovit +Rudolfus Schoell; Opus Schoellii morte interceptum absolvit +G. Kroll. Berolini apud Weidmannos, 1895.</p> +<p>III. The Fragments of the Perpetual Edict of Salvius Julianus. +Edited by Bryan Walken Cambridge University Press. 1877.</p> +<p><a name="Page_50"></a>IV. Pomponii de Origine Iuris Fragmentum: +recognovit +Fridericus Osannus. Gissae, apud Io. Rickerum, 1848.</p> +<p>V. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Consilio et Auctoritate +Academiae Litterarum Regiae Borussicae editum. Berolini +apud Georgium Reimerum (begun in 1863).</p> +<p>VI. Valerii Maximi Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium +Libri Novem: cum Iulii Paridis et Ianvarii Nepotiani Epitomis: +iterum recensuit Carolus Kempf. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1888.</p> +<p>VII. Cassii Dionis Cocceiani Rerum Romanarum libri +octaginta: ab Immanuele Bekkero Recogniti. Lipsiae, apud +Weidmannos, 1849.</p> +<p>VIII. C. Suetoni Tranquilli quae Supersunt Omnia: recensuit +Carolus L. Roth. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1898.</p> +<p>IX. A. Persii Flacci, D. Iunii Iuvenalis, Sulpiciae Saturae; +recognovit Otto Iahn. Editio altera curam agente Francisco +Buecheler. Berolini, apud Weidmannos, 1886.</p> +<p>X. Eutropi Breviarium ab Urbe Condita: recognovit Franciscus +Ruehl. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1897.</p> +<p>XI. Herodiani ab Excessu Divi Marci libri octo: ab Immanuele +Bekkero recogniti. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1855.</p> +<p>XII. A. Gellii Noctium Atticarum libri XX: edidit Carolus +Hosius. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1903.</p> +<p>XIII. Petronii Saturae et Liber Priapeorum: quartum edidit +Franciscus Buecheler: adiectae sunt Varronis et Senecae Saturae +similesque Reliquiae. Berolini, apud Weidmannos, 1904.</p> +<p>XIV. M. Valerii Martialis Epigrammaton libri: recognovit +Walther Gilbert. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1896.</p> +<p>XV. Cornelii Taciti Libri qui Supersunt: quartum recognovit +Carolus Halm. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1901.</p> +<p>XVI. C. Vellei Paterculi ex Historiae Romanae libris duobus +quae supersunt: edidit Carolus Halm. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1876.</p> +<p>XVII. L. Annaei Senecae Opera quae Supersunt: recognovit +Fridericus Haase. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1898.</p> +<p>XVIII. Athenaei Naucratitae Deipnosophistaro libri XV: +recensuit Georgius Kaibel. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1887.</p> +<p>XIX. Lucii Apulei Metamorphoseon libri XI. Apologia et +Florida. Recensuit J. van der Vliet. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1897.</p> +<p>XX. C. Plini Caecili Secundi Epistularum libri novem. +Epistularum ad Traianum liber. Panegyricus. Recognovit +C.F.W. Mueller. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1903.</p> +<p><a name="Page_51"></a>XXI. Scriptores Historiae Augustae: edidit +Hermannus +Peter. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1888.</p> +<p>XXII. M. Fabii Quintiliani Institutionis Oratoriae libri XII: +recensuit Eduardus Bonnell. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1905.</p> +<p>XXIII. Marci Antonini Commentariorum libri XII: iterum +recensuit Ioannes Stich. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1903.</p> +<p>XXIV. C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis Historiae libri XXXVII: +recognovit Ludovicus Ianus. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1854.</p> +<p>XXV. XII Panegyrici Latini: recensuit Aemilius Baehrens. +Lipsiae (Teubner), 1874.</p> +<p>XXVI. Plutarchi Scripta Moralia, Graece et Latine: Parisiis, +editore Ambrosio F. Didot, 1841.</p> +<p>Plutarchi Vitae Parallelae: iterum recognovit Carolus Sintennis. +Lipsiae (Teubner), 1884.</p> +<p>XXVII. Ammiani Marcellini Rerum Gestarum libri qui +supersunt: recensuit V. Gardthausen. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1875.</p> +<p>XXVIII. Poetae Latini Minores: recensuit Aemilius Baehrens. +Lipsiae (Teubner), 1883.</p> +<br> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1">[1]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, iii, 4<i>a</i>, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2">[2]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., xx, 16. Gaius, ii, 112.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3">[3]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Male relatives on the father's side—agnati—were guardians +in such cases; these failing, the judge of the supreme court +(praetor) assigned one. See Ulpian, Tit., xi, 3, 4, and 24. +Gaius, i, 185, and iii, 10. Libertae (freedwomen) took as guardians +their former masters.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4">[4]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., xi, 27.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5">[5]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The power of the father was called <i>potestas</i>; that of the +husband, +<i>manus</i>.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6">[6]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, x, 23. Cf. Suetonius, <i>Tiberius</i>, 35.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7">[7]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 144.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8">[8]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., xi, I.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9">[9]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., xi, 28a. Gaius, i, 194. Paulus, iv, 9, +1-9.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10">[10]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 145. Ulpian, Tit., x, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11">[11]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 137. For an example see Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, viii, 18. +Cf. +Spartianus. <i>Didius Iulianus</i>, 8: filiam suam, potitus imperio, +dato patrimonio, emancipaverat. See also Dio, 73, 7 (Xiphilin). +</p> +<p>If emancipated children insulted or injured their parents, +they lost their independence—Codex, 8, 49 (50), 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12">[12]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., viii, 7<i>a</i>.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13">[13]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, i, 4, 4; Mater, quae filiorum suorum rebus intervenit, +actione negotiorum gestorum et ipsis et eorum tutoribus +tenebitur.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14">[14]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 25, 3, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15">[15]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For Livia's great influence over Augustus see Seneca, <i>de +Clementia</i>, i, 9, 6. Tacitus, <i>Annals</i>, i, 3, 4, and 5, and +ii, 34. +Dio, 55, 14-21, and 56, 47. +</p> +<p>Agrippina dominated Claudius—Tacitus, <i>Annals</i>, xii, 37. +Dio, 60, 33. Caenis, the concubine of Vespasian, amassed great +wealth and sold public offices right and left—Dio, 65, 14. Plotina, +wife of Trajan, engineered Hadrian's succession—Eutropius, +viii, 6. Dio, 69, I. A concubine formed the conspiracy +which overthrew Commodus—Herodian, i, 16-17. The plotting +of Maesa put Heliogabalus on the throne—Capitolinus, <i>Macrinus</i>, +9-10. Alexander Severus was ruled by his mother Mammaea—Lampridius, +<i>Alex. Severus</i>, 14; Herodian, vi, i, i and 9. +Gallienus invited women to his cabinet meetings—Trebellius +Pollio, Gallienus, 16. The wives of governors took such a strenuous +part in politics and army matters that it caused the Senate +grave concern—see examples in Tacitus, Annals, in, 33 and 34, +and iv, 20; also i, 69, and ii, 55; id. <i>Hist</i>., iii, 69. +Vellcius Paterculus, +ii, 74 (Fulvia). +</p> +<p>Of course, no woman ever had a right to vote; but neither did +anybody else, since the Roman government had become an +absolute despotism. The first woman on the throne was Pulcheria, +who, in 450 A.D., was proclaimed Empress of the East, +succeeding her brother, Theodosius II. But she soon took a +husband and made him Emperor. She had been practically sole +ruler since 414.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16">[16]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Plutarch, <i>Roman Questions</i>, 6. Aulus Gellius, x, 23. +Athenaeus, +x, 56.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17">[17]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Valerius Maximus, vi, 3, 9. For this he was not even blamed, +but rather received praise for the excellent example.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18">[18]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, x, 23. A woman in the <i>Menaechmi</i> of Plautus, +iv, 6, 1, complains justly of this double standard of morality: +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Nam si vir scortum duxit clam uxorem suam,</p> +<p>Id si rescivit uxor, impune est viro.</p> +<p>Uxor viro si clam domo egressa est foras,</p> +<p>Viro fit causa, exigitur matrimonio.</p> +<p>Utinam lex esset cadem quae uxori est viro!</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19">[19]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, i, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20">[20]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> De Consolatione ad Marciam, xvi, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21">[21]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Commentaries</i>, A, γ.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22">[22]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Quintilian, <i>Instit. Orat</i>., vi, 1, 5. Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, +vi, 4 and 7, +and vii, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23">[23]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Great admiration expressed for Paulina, wife of Seneca, who +opened her veins to accompany her husband in death—Tacitus, +<i>Annals</i>, xv, 63, 64. Story of Arria and Paetus—Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, +iii, 16. Martial, i, 13. The famous instance of Epponina, +under Vespasian, and her attachment to her condemned husband—Tacitus, +<i>Hist</i>., iv, 67. Tacitus mentions that many +ladies accompanied their husbands to exile and death—<i>Annals</i>, +xvi, 10, 11. Numerous instances are related by Pliny of tender +and happy marriages, terminated only by death—see, e.g., <i>Letters</i>, +viii, 5. Pliny the elder tells how M. Lepidus died of regret +for his wife after being divorced from her—<i>N.H</i>., vii, 36. +Valerius +Maximus devotes a whole chapter to Conjugal Love—iv, +6. But the best examples of deep affection are seen in tomb +inscriptions—e.g., CIL i, 1103, viii, 8123, ii, 3596, v, 1, 3496, v, 2, +7066, x, 8192, vi, 3, 15696, 15317, and 17690. Man and wife +are often represented with arms thrown about one another's +shoulders to signify that they were united in death as in life. +The poet Statius remarks that "to love a wife when she is living +is pleasure; to love her when dead, a solemn duty" (Silvae, +in prooemio). Yet some theologians would have us believe that +conjugal love and fidelity is an invention of Christianity.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24">[24]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Panegyricus</i>, 26. For other instances see +Capitolinus, +<i>Anton. Pius</i>, 8; Lampridius, <i>Alex. Severus</i>, 57; +Spartianus, +Hadrian, 7, 8, 9; Capitolinus, <i>M. Anton. Phil</i>., 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25">[25]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 190.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26">[26]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit. xi, 25. Cf. Frag, iur Rom. Vatic. (Huschke, +325): Divi Diocletianus et Constantius Aureliae Pontiae: Actor +rei forum sequi debet et mulier quoque facere procuratorem +<i>sine tutoris auctoritate non prohibetur</i>. So Papinian, lib. xv, +Responsorum (Huschke, 327). I shall discuss these matters +at greater length when I treat of women and the management of +their property.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27">[27]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Dio, 54, 16. Pomponius in Dig., 23, 2, 4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28">[28]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 113.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29">[29]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., ix, 1: Farreo convenit uxor in manum certis +verbis et testibus X praesentibus et sollemni sacrificio facto, in +quo panis quoque farreus adhibetur. Cf. Gaius, i, 112.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30">[30]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, iii, 2, 12. Gaius, i, 111.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31">[31]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 110 and 111.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32">[32]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xix, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33">[33]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, i, 14, will furnish an example; cf. id. vi, +26, to +Servianus: Gaudeo et gratulor, quod Fusco Salinatori filiam +tuam destinasti. Note the way in which Julius Caesar arranged +a match for his daughter—Suetonius, <i>Divus Julius</i>, 21.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34">[34]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 23, 2, 2: Nuptiae consistere non possunt, +nisi consentiunt omnes, id est, qui coeunt quorumque in potestate +sunt.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35">[35]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Julianus in Dig., 23, 1, 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36">[36]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 23, 1, 12.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37">[37]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 23, 1, 13. Terentius Clemens in Dig., 23, +2, 21.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38">[38]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, 19, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39">[39]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, 24, 17.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40">[40]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Ulpian, Tit., vi, 6: Divortio facto, si quidem sui juris sit +muller, ipsa habet rei uxoriae actionem, id est, dotis repetitionem; +quodsi in potestate patris sit, pater adiuncta filiae persona habet +actionem. +</p> +<p>The technical recognition of the father's power was still strong. +Cf. Pliny, <i>Panegyricus</i>, 38: Tu quidem, Caesar ... intuitus, +opinor, vim legemque naturae, quae semper in dicione parentum +esse liberos iussit. The same writer, on requesting Trajan +to give citizenship to the children of a certain freedman, is careful +to add the specification that they are to remain in their father's +power—see Pliny to Trajan, xi (vi).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41">[41]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, vi, 15. Codex, v, 4, 11, and 17, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42">[42]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, in Dig., 23, 3, 28. Codex, v, 13, 1, and 18, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43">[43]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 17, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44">[44]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Salvius Julianus: Frag. Perp. Ed.: Pars Prima, vii—under +"De is qui notantur infamia."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45">[45]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, 8, 46 (47), 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46">[46]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, iv, 4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47">[47]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Juvenal, vi, 200-203. Gaius in Dig., 24, 2, 2. Ulpian, ibid., +23, I, 10. Codex, v, 17, 2, and v, I, I.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48">[48]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 3, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49">[49]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Dig., 3, 2, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50">[50]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 47, 10, 24.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51">[51]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Alexander Severus in Codex, viii, 38, 2: Libera matrimonia +esse antiquitus placuit, etc. Also Codex, v, 4, 8 and 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52">[52]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Modestinus in Dig., xxiii, 2, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53">[53]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, ii, 159.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54">[54]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xx, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55">[55]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Note the rescript of Alexander Severus to a certain Aquila +(Codex, ii, 18, 13): Quod in uxorem tuam aegram erogasti, non a +socero repetere, sed adfectioni tuae debes expendere.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56">[56]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, e.g., Dig., 47, 10, and Ulpian, ibid., 48, 14, 27.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57">[57]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Gaius, i, 141: In summa admonendi sumus, adversus eos, +quos in mancipio habemus, nihil nobis contumeliose facere licere; +alioquin iniuriarum (actione) tenebimur.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58">[58]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, i, 21, 13.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59">[59]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, i, 21, 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60">[60]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, ii, 11, 15</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61">[61]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., iii, 2, 9.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62">[62]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, xvii, 6, speech of Cato: Principio vobis mulier +magnam dotem adtulit; tum magnam pecuniam recipit, quam in +viri potestatem non committit, ean pecuniam viro mutuam dat; +postea, ubi irata facta est, servum recepticum sectari atque +flagitare virum iubet.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63">[63]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 23, 3, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64">[64]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pomponius in Dig., 24, 3, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65">[65]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 23, 3, 7.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66">[66]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Tryfoninus in Dig., 23, 3, 75.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67">[67]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, ii, 63. Paulus, ii, 21b.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68">[68]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g. Juvenal, vi, 136-141. Martial, viii, 12.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69">[69]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Apuleius <i>Apologia</i>, 523: Pleraque tamen rei familiaris in +nomen uxoris callidissima fraude confert, etc.; id., 545, 546 proves +further the power of the wife: ea condicione factam conjunctionem, +si nullis a me susceptis liberis vita demigrasset, ut dos +omnis, etc.—evidently the woman was dictating the disposal +of her dowry.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70">[70]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit., vi, 3, 4, and 5. Codex, v, 18, 4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71">[71]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., xi, 7, 16; ibid., Papinian, 17; ibid, Julianus, +18. Paulus, i, xxi, 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72">[72]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 20, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73">[73]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 20, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74">[74]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 24, 1, 1: Moribus apud nos receptum est, +ne inter virum et uxorem donationes valerent, hoc autem receptum +est, ne mutuo amore invicem spoliarentur, donationibus +non temperantes, sed profusa erga se facilitate.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75">[75]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 24, 1, 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76">[76]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius in Dig., 24, 1, 42; ibid., Licinius Rufus, 41; Ulpian, Tit. +vii, 1. Martial, vii, 64—et post hoc dominae munere factus +eques.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77">[77]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xxiii, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78">[78]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Paulus, ii, xxiii, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79">[79]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 25, 2, 1. Codex, v, 21, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80">[80]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius in Dig., 25, 2, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81">[81]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 25, 2, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82">[82]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 47, 2, 52. The respect shown for family +relations may be seen also from the fact that a son could <i>complain—de +facto matris queri</i>—if he believed that his mother had +brought in supposititious offspring to defraud him of some of +his inheritance; but he was strictly forbidden to bring her into +court with a public and criminal action—Macer in Dig., 48, 2, +11: <i>sed ream eam lege Cornelia facere permissum ei non est</i>.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83">[83]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 14, 27.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84">[84]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 5, 14 (13): Iudex adulterii ante oculos +habere debet et inquirere, an maritus pudice vivens mulieri +quoque bonos mores colendi auctor fuerit periniquum enim videtur +esse, ut pudicitiam vir ab uxore exigat, quam ipse non exhibeat. +Cf. Seneca, <i>Ep</i>., 94: Scis improbum esse qui ab uxore pudicitiam +exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor uxorum. Scis ut illi nil cum +adultero, sic nihil tibi esse debere cum pellice. Antoninus +Pius gave a husband a bill for adultery against his wife "Provided +it is established that by your life you give her an example +of fidelity. It would be unjust that a husband should +demand a fidelity which he does not himself keep"—quoted by St. +Augustine, de Conj. Adult., ii, ch. 8. In view of these explicit +statements it is difficult to see what the Church Father Lactantius +meant by asserting (<i>de Vero Cultu</i>, 23): Non enim, sicut iuris +publici +ratio est, sola mulier adultera est, quae habet alium; maritus +autem, etiamsi plures habeat, a crimine adulterii solutus est. +Perhaps this deliberate distortion of the truth was another one +of the libels against pagan Rome of which the pious Fathers are +so fond "for the good of the Church."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85">[85]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Papinian in Dig., 48, 5, 21 (20); ibid., Ulpian, 24 (23). Paulus, +ii, xxvi.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86">[86]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Macer in Dig., 48, 5, 25 (24).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87">[87]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Papinian in Dig., 48, 5, 23 (22).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88">[88]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Papinian in Dig., 48, 5, 39 (38); ibid., Marcianus, 48, 8, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89">[89]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xxvi. Macer in Dig., 48, 5, 25 (24), ibid., Ulpian, +48, 5, 30 (29).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90">[90]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xxvi.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91">[91]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Juvenal, x. 317; quosdam moechos et mugilis intrat. Cf. +Catullus, 15, 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92">[92]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, e.g., Capitolinus, <i>Anton</i>. <i>Pius</i>, 3. Spartianus, +<i>Sept. +Severus</i>, 18, Pliny, <i>Panegyricus</i>, 83: multis illustribus +dedecori +fuit aut inconsultius uxor assumpta aut retenta patientius, etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93">[93]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, vi, 31.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94">[94]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xxvi, 15.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95">[95]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Valerius Maximus, ii, 1, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96">[96]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, xvii, 21, 44. Valerius Maximus, ii, 1, 4. +Plutarch, <i>Roman Questions</i>, 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97">[97]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Valerius Maximus, vi, 3, 12.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98">[98]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> "If you should catch your wife in adultery, you would put +her to death with impunity; she, on her part, would not dare to +touch you with her finger; and it is not right that she should"—Speech +of Cato the Censor, quoted by Aulus Gellius, x, 23.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99">[99]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g., Marcellus in Dig., 24, 3, 38: Maevia Titio repudium +misit, etc.; ibid., Africanus, 24, 3, 34: Titia divortium a Seio +fecit, etc. Martial, x, 41: Mense novo lani veterem, Proculeia, +maritum Deseris, atque iubes res sibi habere suas. Apuleius, +<i>Apologia</i>, 547: utramvis habens culpam mulier, quae aut tam +intolerabilis fuit ut repudiaretur aut tam insolens ut repudiaret. +</p> +<p><i>Novellae</i>, 140, 1: Antiquitus quidem licebat sine periculo +tales [i.e., those of incompatible temperament] ab invicem +separari secundum communem voluntatem et consensum.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100">[100]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Martial, vi, 7.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101">[101]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, x, 15: Matrimonium flaminis nisi morte dirimi +ius non est.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102">[102]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Tacitus, <i>Annals</i>, iv, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103">[103]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, vi, 6; id. in Dig., 24, 3, 2. Pauli fragmentam in +Boethii commentario ad Topica, 2, 4, 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104">[104]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig. ii,3, 41.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105">[105]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, vi, 13.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106">[106]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, vi, 9-17, and vii, 2-3. Pauli frag, in Boethii comm. +ad Top., ii, 4, 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107">[107]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, xiv: feminis lex Iulia a morte viri anni tribuit +vacationem, a divortio sex mensum; lex autem Papia a morte +viri biennii, a repudio anni et sex mensum.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108">[108]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 25, 3, 1. Paulus, ii, xxiv, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109">[109]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 25, 4, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110">[110]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 24, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111">[111]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, vi, 60, 1: Res, quae ex matris successione fuerint ad +filios devolutae, ita sint in parentum potestate, ut fruendi +dumtaxat habeant facultatem, dominio videlicet carum ad liberos +pertinente.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112">[112]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Neratius in Dig., 26, 1, 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113">[113]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 35, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114">[114]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, ii, 12, 18: alienam suscipere defensionem virile officium +est ... filio itaque tuo, si pupillus est, tutorem pete.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115">[115]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, Tit. viii, 7<i>a</i>. Paulus, i, 4, 4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116">[116]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>ad Helviam matrem de consol</i>., xiv, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117">[117]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Other instances of women trustees will be found in Apuleius, +<i>Apologia</i> 516; Paulus in Dig; iii, 5,23 (24): avia nepotis sui +negotia gessit, etc.; ibid., Marcellus, 46, 3, 48: Titia cum +propter dotem bona mariti possideret, omnia pro domina egit, +reditus exegit, etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118">[118]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Tacitus, <i>Agricola</i>, 43.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119">[119]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Frag. iur. Rom. Vat., 282.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120">[120]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian, viii, 7a.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121">[121]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, ii, 227. Digest, 35, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122">[122]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g. Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, v, 1. Codex, iii, 28, 19; id., iii, +28, 28. +Cf. Codex, iii, 29, I, and 29, 7; and Paulus in Dig., v, 2, 19. Note +the extreme anxiety of the son of Prudentilla about her money +as given by Apuleius, <i>Apologia</i>, 517. The estate of a mother +who died intestate went to her children, not to her husband; +the latter could only enjoy the interest until they arrived at +maturity—Codex, vi, 60, 1; Modestinus in Dig., 38, 17, 4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123">[123]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g., Juvenal, iv, 18-21. Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, ii, 20.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124">[124]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Digest, xiv, 1 and 3 and 8—on the actio exercitoria and institoria. +Cf. Codex, iv, 25, 4: et si a muliere magister navis praepositus +fuerit, etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125">[125]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> CIL, xiv, 326.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126">[126]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Martial, xi, 71. Apuleius, <i>Metam</i>., v, 10. Soranus, i, 1, +ch. +1 and 2. Galen, vii, 414 (cf. xiii, 341).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127">[127]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g. Suetonius, <i>Nero</i>, 27.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128">[128]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Carmina Priapea, 18 and 27. Ulpian, xiii, 1. The Roman +drama had now degenerated into mere vaudeville, mostly lascivious +dancing. Senators and their children were forbidden to +marry any woman who had herself or whose father or mother +had been on the stage.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129">[129]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Martial, ii, 17, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130">[130]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Petronius, <i>Sat</i>., 45: Titus noster ... habet et mulierem +essedariam. +This would not be strange, when we reflect that under +Domitian noble ladies even fought in the arena.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131">[131]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Thesmophoriazusae</i>, 443-459.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132">[132]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See Cicero, <i>pro Caecina</i>, 5, for an account of these +business +agents for women.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133">[133]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, ii, xi; id. in Dig., 16, 1, 1; Aulus Gellius, v, 19; +Pomponius +in Dig., 48, 2, 1: non est permissum mulieri publico iudicio +quemquam reum facere.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134">[134]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 1, 16, 9. Salvius Julianus, Pars Prima, vi: +si non habebunt advocatum, ego dabo. Alexander Severus +(222-235 A.D.) gave pensions to those advocates in the provinces +who pleaded free of charge—Lampridius, <i>Alex. Severus</i>, 44.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135">[135]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Paulus in Dig., 23, 3, 28. Codex, v, 13, 1, and 18, 1. +Ulpian in Dig., iii, 3, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136">[136]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 137.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137">[137]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Frag. iur. Rom. Vat., 325; id., 327 (from Papinian): mulieres +quoque et sine tutoris auctoritate procuratorem facere posse.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138">[138]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., iii, 3, 8; ibid., Paulus, iii, 3, 41.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139">[139]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., iii, 5, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140">[140]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pomponius in Dig., 48, 2, 1; ibid., Papinian, 48, 2, 2—who +adds that she could also do so in a case regarding the will of a +mother or father's freedman.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141">[141]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Marcianus in Dig., 48, 2, 13.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142">[142]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Papinian in Dig., 48, 4, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143">[143]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Juvenal, vi, 242—245.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144">[144]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Valerius Maximus, viii, 3, 3. Appian, <i>B.C</i>., iv, 32 ff. +Quintilian, +i, 1, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145">[145]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Valerius Maximus, viii, 3, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146">[146]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Quintilian, ix, 2, 20 and 34.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147">[147]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g., Pliny <i>Letters</i>, i, 5, and iv, 17.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148">[148]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g., Huschke, pp. 796, 797, 803, 807, 809, 810, 856, 857, 858. +Or instances such as that mentioned in Digest, 48, 2, 18, where a +sister brings an action to prove her brother's will a forgery.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149">[149]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, vi, 33.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150">[150]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus in Dig., 22, 6, 9.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151">[151]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Fully treated in Dig., 16, 1, and Paulus, ii, xi.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152">[152]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 16, 1, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153">[153]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, xvii, 6. St. Augustine, de Civit. Dei, iii, 21: +nam tunc, id est inter secundum et postremum bellum Carthaginiense, +lata est etiam illa lex Voconis, ne quis heredem +feminam faceret, nec unicam filiam.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154">[154]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Dio, 56, 10.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155">[155]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Aulus Gellius, xx, 1, 23. According to Dio, 56, 10, it was +Augustus who in the year 9 A.D. gave women permission to inherit +any amount.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156">[156]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Fully treated in Dig., 35, 2. Also in Gaius, ii, 227, and +Paulus, iii, viii, 1-3, and iv, 3, 3, and 5 and 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157">[157]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, iv, Tit. v, 1. Cases in which "Complaints of Undutiful +Will" were the issue will be found, e.g., in Codex, iii, +28, 1 and 19 and 28; id., iii, 29, 1 and 7.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158">[158]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 38, 16, 1: suos heredes accipere debemus +filios filias sive naturales sive adoptivos. Instances of daughters +being left heiresses of whole estates may be found, e.g., in Dig., +28, 2, 19: cum quidam filiam ex asse heredem scripsisset +filioque, quem in potestate habebat, decem legasset, etc. Or +the example mentioned by Scaevola in Dig., 41, 9, 3: Duae +filiae intestato patri heres exstiterunt, etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159">[159]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Callistratus in Dig., 48, 19, 26: crimen vel poena paterna +nullam maculam filio infligere potest. namque unusquisque ex +suo admisso sorti subicitur nec alieni criminis successor constituitur; +idque divi fratres Hierapolitanis rescripserunt. "Nothing +is more unjust," writes Seneca (de Ira, ii, 34, 3), "than +that any one should become the heir of the odium excited by his +father."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160">[160]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, v, xii, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161">[161]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, v, xii, 12.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162">[162]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 4, 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163">[163]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 4, 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164">[164]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Hermogenianus in Dig., 48, 4, 9.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165">[165]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Sulla had not only deprived the children of the proscribed of +all their estates, but had also debarred them from aspiring to any +political office—see Velleius Paterculus, ii, 28.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166">[166]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For examples of the clemency of Augustus see Suetonius, +<i>div. Aug.</i>, 33 and 51 and 67; Seneca, <i>de Ira</i>, iii, 23, 4 +ff., and +40, 2; Velleius Paterculus, ii, 86, 87.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167">[167]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For Tiberius see, e.g., Tacitus, <i>Annals</i>, iv—case of Silius; +id., <i>Annals</i>, iii, 17, 18—case of Piso. For Nero, note Tacitus, +<i>Annals</i>, xiii, 43—case of Publius Suilius. Clemency of Claudius +mentioned in Dio, 60, 15, 16; of Vitellius in Tacitus, <i>Hist</i>., +ii, 62.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168">[168]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Spartianus, <i>Had.</i>, 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169">[169]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Capitolinus, <i>Anton. Pius</i>, 7. See also the anecdote of +Aurelian +in Vopiscus, <i>Aurelian</i>, 23.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170">[170]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, iv, 12, 2, rescript of Diocletian: ob maritorum culpam +uxores inquietari leges vetant. proinde rationalis noster, si res +quae a fisco occupatae sunt dominii tui esse probaveris, ius +publicum sequetur.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171">[171]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, ii, 129 and 132.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172">[172]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, ii, 132.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173">[173]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, iii, 36, 11: Inter filios ac filias bona intestatorum +parentium pro virilibus portionibus aequo iure dividi oportere +explorati iuris est.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174">[174]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, iii, 25-31.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175">[175]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, e.g., Codex, vi, 60, i: Res, quae ex matris successione +fuerint ad filios devolutae, ita sint in parentum potestate, ut +fruendi dumtaxat habeant facultatem, dominio videlicet eorum +ad liberos pertinente.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176">[176]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For all this, see Codex, v, 9, 5, and vi, 18, q.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177">[177]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, v, 4, 14, who adds that exile was the penalty if the +crime had not been completely carried out. It would seem also +that ravished women had the option of deciding whether their +seducers should marry them or be put to death—see the <i>vitiatarum +electiones</i> as mentioned by Tacitus, <i>Dial. de Orat</i>., 35. +According to Ruffus, 40, a soldier who did violence to a girl +had his nostrils cut off, besides being forced to give the injured +woman a third part of his goods: militi, qui puellae vim adtulerit +et stupraverit, nares abscinduntur, data puellae tertia militis +facultatum parte.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178">[178]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, v, 4, 21.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179">[179]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> By the lex Fabia. Paulus, v, 30 B. Digest, 48, 15; 17, 2, 51.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180">[180]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., 48, 8, 8; ibid., Tryphoninus, 48, 19, 39.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181">[181]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, v, 23, 14; id. in Dig., 48, 19, 38.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182">[182]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, supra cit.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183">[183]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Martial, x, 35, and x, 38.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184">[184]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Sappho, Telesilla, and Corinna belong to an earlier period, +when the Oriental idea of seclusion for women had not yet become +firmly fixed in Greece. Women like Agallis of Corcyra, +who wrote on grammar (Athenaeus, i, 25) and lived in a much +later age, doubtless belonged to the <i>hetaerae</i> class.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185">[185]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, e.g., Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, v, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186">[186]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, i, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187">[187]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Persius, i, 4-5: Ne mihi Polydamas et Troiades Labeonem +praetulerint? "Are you afraid that Polydamas and the Trojan +Ladies will prefer Labeo to me?" The <i>Trojan Ladies</i>, of course, +stand for the aristocratic classes, Colonial Dames, so to speak, +who were fond of tracing their descent back to Troy just as +Americans like to discover that their ancestors came over in +the <i>Mayflower</i>.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188">[188]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Juvenal, vi, 434-440.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189">[189]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Martial, ii, 90: sit mihi verna satur, sit non doctissima +coniunx.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190">[190]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The famous verses of Martial: +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Quid tibi nobiscum, ludi scelerate magister?</p> +<p class="i2">Invisum pueris virginibusque caput!</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191">[191]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Vespasian (69-79 A.D.) started free public education by appointing +Quintilian Professor of Rhetoric subsidised by the state. +Succeeding emperors enlarged upon it; but especially Alexander +Severus (222-235 A.D.), who instituted salaries for teachers of +rhetoric, literature, medicine, mechanics, and architecture in +Rome and the provinces, and had poor boys attend the lectures +free of charge—see Lampridius, <i>Alex. Severus</i>, 44.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192">[192]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Paneg.</i>, 26. Spartianus, <i>Hadrian</i>, 7, 8-9. +Capitolinus, +<i>Anton. Pius 8</i>; id. <i>M. Anton. Phil.</i> II. Lampridius, <i>Alex</i>. +<i>Severus</i>, 57.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193">[193]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, vii, 18. The sum was 500,000 sesterces.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194">[194]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Any infringement of this vow was punished by burial alive—for +instances, see Suetonius, <i>Domitian</i>, 8; Herodian, iv, 6, 4: +Pliny, <i>Letters</i> iv, 11; Dio, 77, 16 (Xiphilin). Their paramours +were beaten to death.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195">[195]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> A full account of the Vestals will be found in Aulus Gellius, +i, 12.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196">[196]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Quintilian, vii, 3, 27: ad servum nulla lex pertinet. On the +rare instances when a slave could inform against his master in +a public court, see Hermogenianus in Dig., v, 1, 53.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197">[197]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 52 ff.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198">[198]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, iii, 222. Cf. Juvenal vi, 219-223, and 474-495.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199">[199]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, iii, 222. Salvius Julianus, Pars Secunda, xv. Aulus +Gellius, xx, i.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200">[200]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, v, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201">[201]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Paulus, iii, v, 5 ff. Pliny, <i>Letters</i>, viii, 14. Tacitus, <i>Annals</i> +xiii, 32.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202">[202]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Valerius Maximus, vi, 8, in a chapter entitled <i>de fide servorum</i> +speaks with great admiration of instances of fidelity on the +part of slaves. Seneca ate with his—<i>Epist</i>. 47, 13. Martial +laments the death of a favourite slave girl—v, 34 and 37. Dio +(62, 27—Xiphilin) notes the heroic conduct of Epicharis, a +freedwoman, who was included in a conspiracy against Nero; +but she revealed none of its secrets, though tortured in every way +by Tigellinus. The pages of Pliny are full of the spirit of kindliness +to slaves.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203">[203]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See Tacitus, <i>Annals</i>, xiv, 42 ff.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204">[204]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Suetonius, <i>Claudius</i>, 25. Dio, 60, 29 (Xiphilin).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205">[205]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Sec, e.g., Seneca, <i>de Clem</i>., i,18, 1 and 2—especially the +anecdote of Vedius Pollio (mentioned also by Dio, 54, 23). +</p> +<p>The interesting letter of Pliny, viii, 16; and cf. iii, 14, and v, +19. +Juvenai, vi, 219-223.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206">[206]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Spartianus, <i>Hadrian</i>, 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207">[207]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gaius, i, 52 ff. Cf. Ulpian in Dig., 1, 12, 1 and 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208">[208]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The punishment for this was pecuniary damages equal to +twice the highest value of a slave during the year in which he +was killed.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209">[209]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ulpian in Dig., i., 12, 8: hoc quoque officium praefecto urbi +a divo Severo datum est, ut mancipia tueatur ne prostituantur.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210">[210]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Vopiscus, <i>Aurelian</i>, 49</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211">[211]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Vopiscus, <i>Tacitus</i>, 9.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_52"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<h2>WOMEN AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH</h2> +<p>Meanwhile a new world force, destined to +overthrow the old order of things, was +growing slowly to maturity and spreading out its +might until eventually it fought its way to preeminence. +I have traced the rights of women +under the regime of pagan Rome; I shall inquire +next into the position of women under Christianity. +We must first note the attitude of the early +Christians towards women in general; for that +attitude will naturally be reflected in any laws +made after the Church has become supreme and +is combined with and directs the State. That +will demand a special chapter on Canon Law; but +in the present chapter I propose to show how +women were regarded by the Christians in the +centuries which were the formative period of the +Church.</p> +<p>The direct words of Christ so far as they relate +to women and as we have them in the Gospels concern +themselves wholly to bring about purity in +the relation of the sexes. "Ye have heard that it +was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I +say unto you, that every one that looketh on a +<a name="Page_53"></a>woman to lust after her hath committed adultery +with her already in his heart."<a name="FNanchor_212"></a><a + href="#Footnote_212"><sup>[212]</sup></a> His commands +on the subject of divorce are positive and unequivocal: +"It was said also, Whosoever shall put +away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; +but I say unto you, that every one that +putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of +fornication, maketh her an adultress; and whosoever +shall marry her when she is put away, committeth +adultery."<a name="FNanchor_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213"><sup>[213]</sup></a> +Christ was content to +lay +down great ethical principles, not minute regulations. +Of any inferiority on the part of women +he says nothing, nor does be concern himself with +giving any directions about their social or legal +rights. He blessed the marriage at Cana; and +to the woman taken in adultery he showed his +usual clemency. For the rest, his relations with +women have an atmosphere of rare sympathy, +gentleness, and charm.</p> +<p>But as soon as we leave the Gospels and read +the Apostles we are in a different sphere. The +Apostles were for the most part men of humble +position, and their whole lives were directed by +inherited beliefs which were distinctly Jewish and +Oriental or Greek; not Western. In the Orient +woman has from the dawn of history to the present +day occupied a position exceedingly low. Indeed, +in Mohammedan countries she is regarded merely +<a name="Page_54"></a>as a tool for the man's sensual passions and she +is not allowed to have even a soul. In Greece +women were confined to their houses, were uneducated, +and had few public rights and less moral +latitude; their husbands had unlimited license.<a name="FNanchor_214"></a><a + href="#Footnote_214"><sup>[214]</sup></a> +The Jewish ideal is by no means a lofty one and +cannot for a moment compare with the honour accorded +the Roman matron under the Empire. According +to <i>Genesis</i> a woman is the cause of all the +woes of mankind. <i>Ecclesiasticus</i> declares that the +badness of men is better than the goodness of +women.<a name="FNanchor_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215"><sup>[215]</sup></a> +In <i>Leviticus</i><a name="FNanchor_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216"><sup>[216]</sup></a> +we read that the period +of +purification customary after the birth of a child is +to be twice as long in the case of a female as in a +<a name="Page_55"></a>male. The inferiority of women was strongly felt; +and this conception would be doubly operative on +men of humble station who never travelled, who +had received little education, and whose ideas were +naturally bounded by the horizon of their native +localities. We are to remember also that the East +is the home of asceticism, a conviction alien to +the Western mind. There is no parallel in Western +Europe to St. Simeon Stylites.</p> +<p>We would, therefore, expect to find in the teachings +of the Apostles an expression of Jewish, i.e., +Eastern ideals on the subject of women; and we do +so find them. Following the express commands of +Christ, they exhorted to sexual purity and reiterated +his injunctions on the matter of divorce. +They went much farther and began to legislate on +more minute details. Paul allows second marriages +to women<a name="FNanchor_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217"><sup>[217]</sup></a>; +but thinks it better for a widow to +remain as she is.<a name="FNanchor_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218"><sup>[218]</sup></a> +It is better to marry +than to +burn; yet would he prefer that men and women +should remain in celibacy.<a name="FNanchor_219"></a><a + href="#Footnote_219"><sup>[219]</sup></a> The power of the +father to arrange a marriage for his daughter was, +under Roman law, limited by her consent; but +the words of Paul make it clear that it was now to +be a Christian precept that a father could determine +on his own responsibility whether his daughter +should remain a virgin.<a name="FNanchor_220"></a><a + href="#Footnote_220"><sup>[220]</sup></a> Wives are to be in +subjection +to their husbands, and "let the wife see that +<a name="Page_56"></a>she fear her husband."<a name="FNanchor_221"></a><a + href="#Footnote_221"><sup>[221]</sup></a> Woman is the weaker +vessel<a name="FNanchor_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222"><sup>[222]</sup></a>; +she is to be silent in church; if she desires +to learn anything, she should ask her husband +at home.<a name="FNanchor_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223"><sup>[223]</sup></a> +Furthermore: "I permit not a woman +to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, +but to be in quietness. For Adam was first +formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, +but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into +transgression; but she shall be saved through +childbearing, if they continue in faith and love +and sanctification with sobriety."<a name="FNanchor_224"></a><a + href="#Footnote_224"><sup>[224]</sup></a> The apparel +of women also evoked legislation from the Apostles. +Women were to pray with their heads veiled "for +the man is not of the woman, but the woman for +the man."<a name="FNanchor_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225"><sup>[225]</sup></a> +Jewels, precious metal, and costly +garments were unbecoming the modest woman.<a name="FNanchor_226"></a><a + href="#Footnote_226"><sup>[226]</sup></a></p> +<p>In this early stage of Christianity we may already +distinguish three conceptions that were quite +foreign to the Roman jurist: <span style="font-weight: bold;">I. </span>The +inferiority +and weakness of women was evident from the +time of Eve and it was an act of God that punished +all womankind for Eve's transgression. Woman +had been man's evil genius. <span style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> +She was to be +submissive to father or husband and not bring +her will in opposition to theirs. <span style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span> +She must +not be prominent in public, she must consider her +<a name="Page_57"></a>conduct and apparel minutely, and she was +exhorted to remain a virgin, as being thus in a +more exalted position. At the same time insistence +was placed on the fact that a virgin, wife, and +widow must be given due honour and respect, +must be provided for, and allowed her share in +taking part in those interests of the community +which were considered her sphere.</p> +<p>If, now, we examine the writings of the Church +Fathers, we shall see these ideas elaborated with +all the vehemence of religious zeal.</p> +<p>The general opinions of the Fathers regarding +women present a curious mixture. They are fond +of descanting on the fact that woman is responsible +for all the woes of mankind and that her very +presence is dangerous. At the same time they +pay glowing tribute to women in particular. St. +Jerome held that women were naturally weaker, +physically and morally, than men.<a name="FNanchor_227"></a><a + href="#Footnote_227"><sup>[227]</sup></a> The same +saint proves that all evils spring from women<a name="FNanchor_228"></a><a + href="#Footnote_228"><sup>[228]</sup></a>; +and in another passage he opines that marriage +is indeed a lottery and the vices of women are +too great to make it worth while.<a name="FNanchor_229"></a><a + href="#Footnote_229"><sup>[229]</sup></a> "The sex is +<a name="Page_58"></a>practiced in deceiving," observes St. Maximus.<a + name="FNanchor_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230"><sup>[230]</sup></a> +St. Augustine disputes subtly whether woman is +the image of God as well as man. He says no, +and proves it thus<a name="FNanchor_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231"><sup>[231]</sup></a>: +The Apostle commands +that a man should not veil his head, because he +is the image of God; but the woman must veil hers, +according to the same Apostle; therefore the +woman is not the image of God. "For this +reason, again," continues the Saint, "the Apostle +says 'A woman is not permitted to teach, nor +to have dominion over her husband.'" Bishop +Marbodius calls woman a "pleasant evil, at once +a honeycomb and a poison" and indicts the sex,<a name="FNanchor_232"></a><a + href="#Footnote_232"><sup>[232]</sup></a> +<a name="Page_59"></a>something on the order of Juvenal or Jonathan +Swift, by citing the cases of Eve, the daughters of +Lot, Delilah, Herodias, Clytemnestra, and Progne. +The way in which women were regarded as at once +a blessing and a curse is well illustrated also in a +distich of Sedulius: "A woman alone has been +responsible for opening the gates of death; a +woman alone has been the cause of a return to +life."<a name="FNanchor_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233"><sup>[233]</sup></a></p> +<p>That women should be in subjection, in accordance +with the dictum of Paul, the Church Fathers +assert emphatically. "How can it be said of a +woman that she is the image of God," exclaims +St. Augustine,<a name="FNanchor_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234"><sup>[234]</sup></a> +"when it is evident that she is +subject to the rule of her husband and has no +authority! Why, she can not teach, nor be a +witness, nor give security, nor act in court; how +much the more can she not govern!" Women are +commanded again and again not to perform any +of the functions of men and to yield a ready +<a name="Page_60"></a>and unquestioning obedience to their husbands.<a + name="FNanchor_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235"><sup>[235]</sup></a> +The Fathers also insist that marriage without a +paternal parent's consent is fornication.<a name="FNanchor_236"></a><a + href="#Footnote_236"><sup>[236]</sup></a></p> +<p>Marriage was looked upon as a necessary evil, +permitted, indeed, as a concession to the weakness +of mankind, but to be avoided if possible. +"Celibacy is to be preferred to marriage," says +St. Augustine.<a name="FNanchor_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237"><sup>[237]</sup></a> +"Celibacy is the life of the +angels," remarks St. Ambrose.<a name="FNanchor_238"></a><a + href="#Footnote_238"><sup>[238]</sup></a> "Celibacy is a +spiritual kind of marriage," according to St. +Optatus.<a name="FNanchor_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239"><sup>[239]</sup></a> +"Happy he," says Tertullia<a name="FNanchor_240"></a><a + href="#Footnote_240"><sup>[240]</sup></a> "who +lives like Paul!" The same saint paints a lugubrious +picture of marriage and the "bitter pleasure of +children" (<i>liberorum amarissima voluptate</i>) who +are burdens and just as likely as not will turn out +criminals. "Why did the Lord cry woe unto those +that are pregnant and give suck, unless it was to +call attention to the fact that children will be a +<a name="Page_61"></a>hindrance on the day of judgment?"<a + name="FNanchor_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241"><sup>[241]</sup></a> +When +such views were entertained of marriage, it need +not seem remarkable that Tertullian and St. Paul +of Nolan, like Tolstoy to-day, discovered the +blessings of a celibate life after they were married +and ran away from their wives.<a name="FNanchor_242"></a><a + href="#Footnote_242"><sup>[242]</sup></a> Jerome +finds marriage useful chiefly because it produces +virgins.<a name="FNanchor_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243"><sup>[243]</sup></a></p> +<p>As for second marriages, the Montanist and the +Novatian sects condemned them absolutely, on +the ground that if God has removed a wife or +husband he has thereby signified his will to end +the marrying of the parties; Tertullian calls second +marriage a species of prostitution.<a name="FNanchor_244"></a><a + href="#Footnote_244"><sup>[244]</sup></a>Jerome expresses +the more tolerant and orthodox view: +"What then? Do we condemn second marriages? +Not at all; but we praise single ones. Do we cast +the twice-married from the Church? Far from it; +but we exhort the once-married to continence. In +Noah's ark there were not only clean, but also +unclean animals."<a name="FNanchor_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245"><sup>[245]</sup></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_62"></a>As the Fathers were very well aware of the +subtle influence of dress on the sexual passions, +we have a vast number of minute regulations directing +virgins, matrons, and widows to be clothed +simply and without ornament; virgins were to be +veiled.<a name="FNanchor_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246"><sup>[246]</sup></a> +Tertullian, with that keen logic of which +the Church has always been proud in her sons, +argues that inasmuch as God has not made crimson +or green sheep it does not behoove women to +wear colours that He has not produced in animals +naturally.<a name="FNanchor_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247"><sup>[247]</sup></a> +St. Augustine forbids nuns to bathe +more than once a month, unless under extreme +necessity.<a name="FNanchor_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248"><sup>[248]</sup></a></p> +<p>As soon as the Church begins to exercise an +influence upon law, we shall expect to see the legal +position of women changed in accordance with +certain general principles outlined above, viz: <span + style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span> +That inasmuch as Adam was formed before +Eve and as women are the weaker vessels, they +should confine themselves to those duties only +which society has, from time immemorial, assigned +<a name="Page_63"></a>them as their peculiar sphere. <span + style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> They should +be meek, and not oppose father or husband; and +to these they should go for advice on all matters. +<span style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span> All license, such as the +Roman woman's +right of taking the initiative in a divorce, must +never be tolerated. <span style="font-weight: bold;">IV.</span> They +should never +transgress the bounds of strictest decorum in +conduct and dress, lest they seduce men; and they +must never be conspicuous in public or attempt to +perform public functions. <span style="font-weight: bold;">V.</span> +They are to be given +due honour and are to be cared for properly.</p> +<p>The legal rights of women would be affected, +moreover, by a difference in the spirit of the law. +The Roman jurist derived his whole sanction from +reason and never allowed religious considerations, +as such, to influence him when legislating on +women. He recognised that laws are not immutable, +but must be changed to fit the growth +of equity and tolerance. No previous authority +was valid to him if reason suggested that the +authority's dictum had outlived its usefulness and +must be adapted to larger ideas. It never occurred +to him to make the inferiority of woman an act of +God. On the other hand, the Church referred +everything to one unchanging authoritative source, +the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles; faith +and authority took the place of reason; and any +attempt to question the injunctions of the Bible +was regarded as an act of impiety, to be punished +accordingly. And as the various regulations +about women had now a divine sanction, +<a name="Page_64"></a>the permanence of these convictions was doubly +assured.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">SOURCES</h4> +<p>I. The Bible.</p> +<p>II. Patrologia Latina: edidit J.P. Migne. Parisiis. 221 +volumes (finished 1864).<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212">[212]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Matthew</i> 5, 27 ff.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213">[213]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Matthew</i> 5, 31 ff.; id. 19, 3 ff. <i>Mark</i> 10, 2-12. <i>Luke</i> +16, 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214">[214]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Plutarch lived in the second century A.D.; but he has inherited +the Greek point of view and advises a wife to bear with meekness +the infidelities of the husband—see <i>Praecep. Coniug</i>., 16. +His words are often curiously similar to those of the Apostles, +e.g., <i>Coniug. Praecep</i>., 33: "The husband shall rule the wife +not as if master of a chattel, but as the soul does the body." Id. +37: "Wives who are sensible will be silent when their husbands +are angry and vent their passion; when their husbands are +silent, then let them speak to them and mollify them." However, +like the Apostles, he enjoins upon husbands to honour their +wives; his essay on the "Virtues of Women"—γυναικων αρεται—is +an affectionate tribute to their worth. +</p> +<p>Some of the respectable Puritan gentlemen at Rome also +held that a wife be content to be a humble admirer of her husband +(e.g., Pliny, <i>Paneg</i>., 83, hoc efficiebat, quod mariti minores +erant ... nam uxori sufficit obsequii gloria, etc.). But +Roman law insisted that what was morally right for the man +was equally so for the woman; just as it compelled a husband +himself to observe chastity, if he expected it from his wife.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215">[215]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Ecclesiasticus</i> 42, 14.</p> +</div> +<p><a name="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216">[216]</a> <i><br> +</i></p> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><i>Leviticus</i> xii, 1-5.<br> +<br> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217">[217]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Romans</i> 7, 2-4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218">[218]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Corinthians</i> i, 7, 39.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219">[219]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Corinthians</i> i, 7, 1 ff.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220">[220]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Corinthians</i> i, 7, 37.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221">[221]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Ephesians</i> 5, 22 and 33.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222">[222]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Peter</i> i, 3, 7.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223">[223]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Corinthians</i> i, 14, 34.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224">[224]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Timothy</i> i, 2, 12-15.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225">[225]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Corinthians</i> i, II, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226">[226]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Timothy</i> i, 2, 9. <i>Peter</i> i, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227">[227]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Abelard, Ep., 9, in vol. 178, p. 325, of Migne: Beatus Hieronymus +... +tanto magis necessarium amorem huius +studii (i.e. the Scriptures) censuit, quanto eas naturaliter +infirmiriores +et carne debiliores esse conspexit. Cf. St. Paul of +Nolan, <i>Letters</i>, 23, § 135—Migne 61, p. 273: Hi enim (i.e. +evil +spirits) petulantius infirmiora vasa pertentant, sicut non +Adam, sed Evam coluber aggressus est.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228">[228]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Adversus Iovianum, i, 48—Migne, vol. 23, p. 278.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229">[229]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Adversus Iovianum, i, 28—Migne, vol. 23, pp. 249-250: +Qui enim ducit uxorem, in ambiguo est, utrum odiosam an amabilem +ducat. Si odiosam duxerit, ferri non potest. Si amabilem, +amor illius inferno et arenti terrae et incendio comparatur. +He quotes the Old Testament, especially <i>Pr</i>. 30, 16, to support +his views.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230">[230]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> S. Maximi Episcopi Taurinensis—Homilia 53, I—Migne, +vol. 57, p. 350.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231">[231]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Augustinus: <i>Quaest. ex vet. Test</i>., 21: an mulier imago Dei +sit +... unde et Apostolus, Vir quidem, inquit, non debet +velare caput, cum sit imago et gloria Dei; mulier autem, inquit, +velet caput. Quare? Quia non est imago Dei. Unde denuo dicit +Apostolus: Mulieri autem docere non permittitur, neque dominari +in virum. Migne, vol. 35, p. 2228.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232">[232]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Migne, vol. 171, pp. 1698-1699: +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Femina dulce malum, pariter favus atque venenum,</p> +<p>Melle linens gladium cor confodit et sapientum.</p> +<p>Quis suasit primo vetitum gustare parenti?</p> +<p>Femina. Quis patrem natas vitiare coegit?</p> +<p>Femina. Quis fortem spoliatum crine peremit?</p> +<p>Femina. Quis iusti sacrum caput ense recidit?</p> +<p>Femina.—etc., ad lib.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +However, in another poem he acknowledges that there is +nothing more beautiful than a good woman: +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>In cunctis quae dante Deo concessa videntur</p> +<p>Usibus humanis, nil pulchrius esse putamus,</p> +<p>Nil melius muliere bona, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233">[233]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Migne, vol. 80, p. 307. The sentiment is more fully developed +in another poem—Migne, vol. 80, p. 307: +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Femina causa fuit humanae perditionis;</p> +<p>Qua reparatur homo, femina causa fuit.</p> +<p>Femina causa fuit cur homo ruit a paradiso;</p> +<p>Qua redit ad vitam, femina causa fuit.</p> +<p>Femina prima parens exosa, maligna, superba;</p> +<p>Femina virgo parens casta, benigna, pia.</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234">[234]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Quaest. ex vet. Test</i>., 45; Migne, vol. 35, p. 2244.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235">[235]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g., Tertullian, <i>de virg. vel</i>., 9. St. Paul of Nolan, +letter +23, § 135—Migne, 61, p. 273. Id., letter 26, vol. 61, p. 732 +of Migne. Cf. Augustine, letter 262, § 5—Migne, 33, p. +1079.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236">[236]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Basilius, <i>ad Amphil</i>., c.42: Matrimonia sine iis, qui +potestatem +habent, fornicationes sunt. +</p> +<p>Ambrose says: Honorantur parentes Rebeccae muneribus, +consulitur puella non de sponsalibus, illa enim expectat iudicium +parentum; non est enim virginalis pudoris eligere maritum.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237">[237]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Virginitas praeferenda coniugio—August., vol. 44, p. 142 of +Migne. The Council of Trent, eleven centuries later, in its +twenty-fourth session, re-echoed this sentiment and anathematised +any one who should deny it.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238">[238]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Migne, vol. 16, p. 342.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239">[239]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., II, p. 1074.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240">[240]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Tertullian <i>ad uxorem</i>, i, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241">[241]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id. <i>ad uxorem</i>, i, 5. See also Gregory of Nyassa, <i>de Virg</i>., +iii, on the evils of matrimony.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242">[242]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> v. Tertullian, <i>ad uxorem</i>. For Paul of Nolan, see Migne, +vol. 61, p. 22.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243">[243]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Laudo nuptias, laudo coniugium, sed quia mihi virgines +generant.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244">[244]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Ad uxorem</i>, i, 7 and 9: non aliud dicendum erit secundum +matrimonium quam species stupri.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245">[245]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Jerome, <i>Epist</i>., 123. See also id., <i>Epistola de +viduitate servanda</i>, +Migne 22, p. 550, and the <i>Epist. de monogamia</i>, Migne, +22, p. 1046. Ambrose, <i>de viduis liber unus</i>, Migne, 16, p. 234. +Cf. Alanus de Insulis in Migne, vol. 210, p. 194: Vidua ad +secundas nuptias non transeat.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246">[246]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, e.g., St. Cyprian, <i>de habitu virginum</i>. Tertullian, +<i>de virginibus velandis</i> and <i>de cultu feminarum</i>. Treatises +on the +way widows should dress were written, among others, by St. +Paul of Nolan, <i>Epist</i>. 23, §§ 133-135—Migne 61; +Augustine, +St. Fulgentius Rusp., St. Paulinus Aquil., and St. Petrus +Damianus.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247">[247]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>De cultu feminarum</i>, i, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248">[248]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lavacrum etiam corporum ususque balneorum non sit assiduus, +sed eo quo solet intervallo temporis tribuatur, hoc est, +semel in mense. Nisi infirmitatis necessitas cogat, corpus +saepius non lavandum—Augustine, <i>de monialibus</i>, Migne, +vol. 33, page 963.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_65"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<h2>RIGHTS OF WOMEN AS MODIFIED BY THE CHRISTIAN +EMPERORS</h2> +<p>Christianity became the state religion +under Constantine, who issued the Edict of +Milan, giving toleration to the Christians, in +the year 313. The emperors from Constantine +through Justinian (527-565) modified the various +laws pertaining to the rights of women in various +ways. To the enactments of Justinian, who caused +the whole body of the Roman law to be collected, +I intend to give special attention. We must not, +as yet, expect to find the strict views of the Church +Fathers carried out in any severe degree. On +the contrary the old Roman law was still so +powerful that it was for the most part beyond the +control of ecclesiasts. Justinian was an ardent +admirer of it and could not escape from its prevailing +spirit. Canon law had not yet developed. +When the old Roman civilisation in Italy has +succumbed completely to its barbarian conquerors; +when the East has been definitely sundered from +the West; when the Church has risen supreme, +has won temporal power, and has developed +canon law into a force equal to the civil law,— +<a name="Page_66"></a>then finally we shall expect to see the legal +rights +of women changed in accordance with two new +world forces—the Roman Catholic Church and the +Germanic nations. I shall now discuss legislation +having to do with my subject under the Christian +emperors from Constantine (306-337) through the +reign of Justinian (527-565).</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Divorce: rescript of Theodosius and Valentian.</div> +<p>The power of husband and wife to divorce at will +and for any cause, which we have seen obtained +under the old Roman law, was confined +to certain causes only by Theodosius and +Valentinian (449 A.D.). These emperors +asserted vigorously that<a name="FNanchor_249"></a><a + href="#Footnote_249"><sup>[249]</sup></a> the dissolution +of the marriage tie should be made more +difficult, especially out of regard to the children. +Pursuant to this idea the power of divorce was +given for the following reasons alone: adultery, +murder, treason, sacrilege, robbery; unchaste +conduct of a husband with a woman not his wife +and vice-versa; if a wife attended public games +without her husband's permission; and extreme +physical violence of either party. A woman who +sent her husband a bill of divorce for any other +reason forfeited her dowry and all ante-nuptial +gifts and could not marry again for five years, +under penalty of losing all civil rights. Her property +accrued to her husband to be kept in trust for +the children.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Justinian on divorce</div> +<p>Justinian made more minute regulations on the +subject of divorce. To the valid causes for +<a name="Page_67"></a>divorce as laid down by Theodosius and +Valentinian +he added impotence; if a separation was obtained +on this ground, the husband might +retain ante-nuptial gifts.<a name="FNanchor_250"></a><a + href="#Footnote_250"><sup>[250]</sup></a> Abortion +committed by the wife or bathing with other men +than her husband or inveigling other men to be her +paramours—these offences on the part of the wife +gave her husband the right of divorce.<a name="FNanchor_251"></a><a + href="#Footnote_251"><sup>[251]</sup></a> Captivity +of either party for a prolonged period of time was +always a valid reason. Justinian added also<a name="FNanchor_252"></a><a + href="#Footnote_252"><sup>[252]</sup></a> +that a man who dismissed his wife without any of +the legal causes mentioned above existing or who +was himself guilty of any of these offences must +give to his wife one fourth of his property up to +a sum not to exceed one hundred <i>librae</i> of gold, +if he owned property worth four hundred <i>librae</i> +or more; if he had less, one fourth of all he possessed +was forfeit. The same penalties held for the wife +who presumed to dismiss her husband without the +offences legally recognised existing. The forfeited +money was at the free disposal of the blameless +party if there were no children; these being extant, +the property must be preserved intact for their +inheritance and merely the usufruct could be +enjoyed by the trustees. A woman who secured +a divorce through a fault of her husband had +always to wait at least a year before marrying +again <i>propter seminis confusionem</i>.<a name="FNanchor_253"></a><a + href="#Footnote_253"><sup>[253]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Justin revokes decrees of Justinian.</div> +<p><a name="Page_68"></a>Justin, the nephew and successor of Justinian, +reaffirmed the right to divorce by mutual consent, +thus abrogating the laws of his predecessors.<a name="FNanchor_254"></a><a + href="#Footnote_254"><sup>[254]</sup></a> +Justinian had ordained +that if husband and wife separated by +mutual consent, they were to be forced to spend the +rest of their lives in a convent and forfeit to it +one third of their goods.<a name="FNanchor_255"></a><a + href="#Footnote_255"><sup>[255]</sup></a> Justin, then, made +the pious efforts of his uncle naught. Nothing +can more clearly illustrate than his decree how +small a power the Church still possessed to mould +the tenor of the law; for such a thing as divorce +by mutual consent, without any necessary reason, +was a serious misdemeanour in the eyes of the +Church Fathers, who passed upon it their severest +censures.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Adultery.</div> +<p>On the subject of adultery Justinian enacted +that if the husband was the guilty party, the dowry +and marriage donations must be given +his wife; but the rest of his property +accrued to his relatives, both in ascending and descending +lines, to the third degree; these failing, his +<a name="Page_69"></a>goods were confiscated to the royal purse.<a + name="FNanchor_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256"><sup>[256]</sup></a> +A +woman guilty of adultery was at once sent to a +monastery. After a space of two years her husband +could take her back again, if he so wished, +without prejudice. If he did not so desire, or if +he died, the woman was shorn and forced to spend +the rest of her life in a nunnery; two thirds of her +property were given to her relatives in descending +line, the other third to the monastery; if there were +no descendants, ascendants got one third and +the monastery two thirds; relatives failing, the +monastery took all; and in all cases goods inserted +in the dowry contract were to be kept for the +husband.<a name="FNanchor_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257"><sup>[257]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Second marriages. <br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Strict laws of Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius.</div> +<p>The legislation of the earlier Christian emperors +on second marriages reflects the various +feelings of the Church Fathers on the +subject. Under the old law, people could marry +as often as they wished without any penalties.<a name="FNanchor_258"></a><a + href="#Footnote_258"><sup>[258]</sup></a> +But we have seen that among some of the Churchmen +second marriages were held in peculiar abhorrence, +and third nuptials were regarded as a +hideous sin; while the orthodox clergy, like St. +Augustine and St. Jerome, permitted second and +third marriages, but damned them with faint +praise and urged Christians to be content with +<a name="Page_70"></a>one venture. Public opinion, custom, and the +influence +of the old Roman law were too powerful +to allow Christian monarchs to become fanatical +on the subject<a name="FNanchor_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259"><sup>[259]</sup></a>; +but certain stricter regulations +were introduced by the pious Gratian, +Valentinian, and Theodosius, in the +years 380, 381, and 382.<a name="FNanchor_260"></a><a + href="#Footnote_260"><sup>[260]</sup></a> As under +the old laws any widow who married +again before the legal time of mourning +—a year—had expired, became infamous and lost +both cast and all claims to the goods of her +deceased husband. She was furthermore not +permitted to give a second husband more than one +third of her property nor leave him more than one +third by will; and she could receive no intestate +succession beyond the third degree. A woman +who proceeded to a second marriage after the +legal period of mourning, must make over at once +to the children of the first marriage all the property +which her former husband had given or left to her. +As to her own personal property, she was allowed +to possess it and enjoy the income while she lived, +but not to alienate it or leave it by will to any one +except the children of the first marriage. As +I have before remarked, Roman law constantly +had the interest of the children at heart.<a name="FNanchor_261"></a><a + href="#Footnote_261"><sup>[261]</sup></a> If +<a name="Page_71"></a>there was no issue of the first marriage, then +the +woman had free control. A mother acquired full +right—as the old Senatus consultum Tertullianum +had decreed—to the property of a son or daughter +who died childless<a name="FNanchor_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262"><sup>[262]</sup></a>; +but if she married a +second +time, and her son or daughter died without leaving +children or grandchildren, she was expelled from +all succession and distant relatives acquired the +property.<a name="FNanchor_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263"><sup>[263]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Justinian moderates these laws to a great degree.</div> +<p>Justinian changed these enactments to a pronounced +degree. "We are not making laws +that are too bitter against women +who marry a second time," he remarks,<a name="FNanchor_264"></a><a + href="#Footnote_264"><sup>[264]</sup></a> +"and we do not want to lead them, +in consequence of such action, to the harsh +necessity, unworthy of our age, of abstaining +from a chaste second marriage and descending +to illegitimate connections." He ordained, +therefore, that the law mentioned above be +annulled and that mothers should have absolutely +unrestricted rights of inheritance to a +deceased child's property along with the latter's +brothers and sisters; and second marriage was +<a name="Page_72"></a>never to create any prejudice.<a + name="FNanchor_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265"><sup>[265]</sup></a> +In the earlier part +of his reign Justinian also forbade husband or +wife to leave one another property under the +stipulation that the surviving partner must not +marry again<a name="FNanchor_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266"><sup>[266]</sup></a>; +but later, when his zeal for reform +had become more pronounced and fanatical, he +revoked this and gave the conditioned party the +option either of enjoying the property by remaining +unmarried or of forfeiting it by a second union.<a name="FNanchor_267"></a><a + href="#Footnote_267"><sup>[267]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Breaking of engagements.</div> +<p>Constantine ordained,<a name="FNanchor_268"></a><a + href="#Footnote_268"><sup>[268]</sup></a> in the year 336, that +if an engagement was broken by the death +of one of the contracting parties and +if the <i>osculum</i><a name="FNanchor_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269"><sup>[269]</sup></a> +had taken place, half +of whatever donations had been given was +to be handed over to the surviving party and +half to the heirs of the deceased; but if the +solemn <i>osculum</i> had not yet taken place, all +gifts went to the heirs of the deceased. There +was also a law that if either party broke the engagement +to enter monastic life, the man who did so +lost all that he had given by way of earnest +money for the marriage contract (<i>arrarum nomine</i>); +if it was the woman who took the initiative, she +was compelled to return twice the amount of any +sums she had received. This was changed by +<a name="Page_73"></a>Justinian, who enacted that those who broke +an engagement to enter monastic life should +merely return or receive whatever donations had +been made.<a name="FNanchor_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270"><sup>[270]</sup></a> +Constantine and his successors abrogated +the old time Julian laws, which had inflicted +certain penalties—such as limited rights of inheritance—on +men and women who did not marry.<a name="FNanchor_271"></a><a + href="#Footnote_271"><sup>[271]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Changes in the law of gifts.</div> +<p>I have already pointed out that gifts between +husband and wife were illegal and I have explained +the reasons. Justinian allowed the husband +to make donations to his wife, in +such wise, however, that all chance of +intent to defraud might be absent.<a name="FNanchor_272"></a><a + href="#Footnote_272"><sup>[272]</sup></a> He ordained +also that if husband or wife left the married state +to embrace a celibate life, each party was to keep +his or her own property as per marriage contract +or as each would legitimately in the case of the +other's death.<a name="FNanchor_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273"><sup>[273]</sup></a> +If any one, after vowing the +monastic life, returned to the world, his or her +<a name="Page_74"></a>goods were forfeit to the monastery which he or +she had left.<a name="FNanchor_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274"><sup>[274]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Various enactments on marriage.</div> +<p>The consent of the father or, if he was dead, of +near relatives was emphatically declared necessary +by the Christian emperors for a marriage +and the woman had practically no will +of her own although, if several suitors +were proposed to her, she might be requested to +name which one she preferred.<a name="FNanchor_275"></a><a + href="#Footnote_275"><sup>[275]</sup></a> Marriage with +a Jew was treated as adultery.<a name="FNanchor_276"></a><a + href="#Footnote_276"><sup>[276]</sup></a> Women who +belonged to heretical sects were to have no +privileges.<a name="FNanchor_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277"><sup>[277]</sup></a> +Justinus and Justinian abrogated the +old law which forbade senators to marry freedwomen +or any woman who had herself or whose +parents had followed the stage. Actresses were +now permitted, on giving up their profession, to +claim all the rights of other free women; and a +senator could marry such or even a freedwoman +without prejudice.<a name="FNanchor_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278"><sup>[278]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Changes in the laws of inheritance.</div> +<p>Under the old law, as we have seen, a son and a +daughter had equal rights to intestate succession; +but beyond the relationship of daughter +to father or sister to brother women had +no rights to intestate succession unless +there were no agnates, that is, male relatives on +the father's side. Thus, an aunt would not be +called to the estate of a nephew who died childless, +<a name="Page_75"></a>but the uncle was regularly admitted. So, too, a +nephew was admitted to the intestate succession +of an uncle, who died without issue, but the niece +was shut out. All this was changed by Justinian, +who gave women the same rights of inheritance +as men under such conditions.<a name="FNanchor_279"></a><a + href="#Footnote_279"><sup>[279]</sup></a> If the children +were unorthodox, they were to have absolutely no +share of either parent's goods.<a name="FNanchor_280"></a><a + href="#Footnote_280"><sup>[280]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women as guardians.</div> +<div class="sidenote"> In suits.</div> +<p>The Christian emperors permitted widows to be +guardians over their children if they +promised on oath not to marry again +and gave security against fraud.<a name="FNanchor_281"></a><a + href="#Footnote_281"><sup>[281]</sup></a> Justinian forbade +women to act by themselves in +any legal matters.<a name="FNanchor_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282"><sup>[282]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Bills of attainder.</div> +<p>Arcadius and Honorius (397 A.D.) enacted some +particularly savage bills of attainder, which were +in painful contrast to the clemency +of their pagan predecessors. Those +guilty of high treason were decapitated and their +goods escheated to the crown. "To the sons of +such a man [i.e., one condemned for high treason]," +write these amiable Christians,<a name="FNanchor_283"></a><a + href="#Footnote_283"><sup>[283]</sup></a> "we allow their +lives out of special royal mercy—for they ought +really to be put to death along with their fathers—but +they are to receive no inheritances. Let them +be paupers forever; let the infamy of their father +ever follow them; they may never aspire to office; +<a name="Page_76"></a>in their lasting poverty let death be a relief +and +life a punishment. Finally, any one who tries to +intercede for these with us is also to be infamous."<a + name="FNanchor_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284"><sup>[284]</sup></a> +However, to the daughters of the condemned these +emperors graciously granted one fourth of their +mother's but not any of their father's goods. In +the case of crimes other than high treason the +children or grandchildren were allowed one half of +the estate.<a name="FNanchor_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285"><sup>[285]</sup></a> +Constantine decreed that a wife's +property was not to be affected by the condemnation +of her husband.<a name="FNanchor_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286"><sup>[286]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Rape.</div> +<p>Ravishers of women, even of slaves and freedwomen, +were punished by Justinian with death; +but in the case of freeborn women only +did the property of the guilty man and +his abettors become forfeit to the outraged victim. +A woman no longer had the privilege of demanding +her assailant in marriage.<a name="FNanchor_287"></a><a + href="#Footnote_287"><sup>[287]</sup></a></p> +<br> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">SOURCES</h4> +<p>Roman Law as cited in Chapter I, especially the <i>Novellae</i> of +Justinian.<br> +</p> +<br> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249">[249]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 17, 8 contains this rescript in full.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250">[250]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 17, 10.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251">[251]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 17, 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252">[252]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253">[253]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 22, 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254">[254]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 140, 1: Antiquitus quidem licebat sine periculo +tales (i.e., those of incompatible temperament) ab invicem separari +secundum communem voluntatem et consensum hoc agentes, +sicut et plurimae tunc leges extarent hoc dicentes et <i>bona gratia</i> +sic procedentem solutionem nuptiarum patria vocitantes voce. +Postea vero divae memoriae nostro patri.... legem +sancivit prohibens cum consensu coniugia solvi.... Haec +igitur aliena nostris iudicantes temporibus in praesenti sacram +constituimus legem, per quam sancimus licere ut antiquitus +consensu coniugum solutiones nuptiarum fieri.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255">[255]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 134, 11.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256">[256]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 134, 10.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257">[257]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 134, 10.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258">[258]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 22 (praefatio): Antiquitas equidem non satis +aliquid de prioribus aut secundis perserutabatur nuptiis, sed +licebat et patribus et matribus et ad plures venire nuptias et +lucro nullo privari, et causa erat in simplicitate confusa.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259">[259]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The language of some of them is pretty strong, however— +matre iam secundis nuptiis <i>funestata</i>—Codex, v, 9, 3 (Gratian, +Valentinian, Theodosius).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260">[260]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For these see Codex, v, 9, 1 and 2 and 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261">[261]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Codex, v, 9, 4. Nos enim hac lege id praecipue custodiendum +esse decrevimus, ut ex quocumque coniugio suscepti +filii patrum suorum sponsalicias retineant facilitates.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262">[262]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, vi, 56, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263">[263]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, ii, 3: ex absurditate legis, licet praemoriantur filii +omnes, non relinquentes filios aut nepotes, nihilominus supplicium +manet, et non succedit eis mater, sed expellitur ab +eorum inhumane successione ... sed succedunt quidem +illis aliqui ex longa cognatione.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264">[264]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, ii, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265">[265]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae ii, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266">[266]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, vi, 40, 2 and 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267">[267]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, 22, 44: unde sancimus, si quis prohibuerit ad aliud +venire matrimonium, etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268">[268]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 3, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269">[269]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The <i>osculum</i> was a sort of "donation on account of +marriage" made on the day of the formal engagement.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270">[270]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, i, 3, 54 (56).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271">[271]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, viii, 57 (58), I and 2. Cf. Codex, viii, 58 (59), 1 and 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272">[272]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 3, 10.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273">[273]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, i, 3, 54 (56). Gregory of Tours informs us that according +to the Council of Nicaea—325 A.D.—a wife who left +her husband, to whom she was happily married, to enter a nunnery +incurred excommunication. He means probably: if she +went without her husband's consent. Greg. 9, 33: Tunc ego +accedens ad monasterium canonum Nicaenorum decreta relegi, +in quibus continetur: quia si quae reliquerit virum et thorum, in +quo bene vexit, spreverit, dicens quia non sit ei portio in illa +caelestis regni gloria qui fuerit coniugio copulatus, anathema +sit. (Note of editor: Videtur esse canon 14 concilii Grangensis, +quod concilium veteres Nicaeno subiungere solebant; idque +indicat titulus in veteribus scriptis.)</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274">[274]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, i, 3, 54 (56).</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275">[275]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 4, 20, and 5, 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276">[276]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, i, 9, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277">[277]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Novellae, cix, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278">[278]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 4, 23 and 28.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279">[279]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, vi, 58, 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280">[280]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, i, 5, 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281">[281]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 35, 2 and 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282">[282]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, ii, 55, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283">[283]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, ix, 8, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284">[284]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> This law was evidently lasting, for it is quoted with approval +by Pope Innocent III, in the year 1199—see Friedberg, <i>Corpus +Iuris Canonici</i>, vol. ii, p. 782.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285">[285]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, ix, 49, 10.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286">[286]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Codex, v, 16, 24.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287">[287]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For all these enactments see Codex, i, 3, 53 (54), and ix, 13.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_77"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h2>WOMEN AMONG THE GERMANIC PEOPLES</h2> +<p>A second world force had now come into its +own. The new power was the Germanic +peoples, those wandering tribes who, after shattering +the Roman Empire, were destined to form +the modern nations of Europe and to find in +Christianity the religion most admirably adapted +to fill their spiritual needs and shape their ideals. +In the year 476 the barbarian Odoacer ascended +the throne of the Caesars. He still pretended to +govern by virtue of the authority delegated to him +by Zeno, emperor at Constantinople; but the rupture +between East and West was becoming final +and after the reign of Justinian (527-565) it was +practically complete. Henceforth the eastern +empire had little or nothing to do with western +Europe and subsisted as an independent monarchy +until Constantinople was taken by the Turks in +1453. I shall not concern myself with it any +longer.</p> +<p>In western Europe, then, new races with new +ideals were forming the nations that to-day are +England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and +Austria. It is interesting to note what some of +<a name="Page_78"></a>these barbarians thought about women and what +place they assigned them.</p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Julius Caesar's account.</div> +<p>Our earliest authorities on the subject are +Julius Caesar and Tacitus. Caesar informs us<a name="FNanchor_288"></a><a + href="#Footnote_288"><sup>[288]</sup></a> +that among the Gauls marriage was a +well recognized institution. The husband +contributed of his own goods the same +amount that his wife brought by way of dowry; +the combined property and its income were enjoyed +on equal terms by husband and wife. If husband +or wife died, all the property became the possession +of the surviving partner. Yet the husband +had full power of life and death over his wife as +over his children; and if, upon the decease of a +noble, there were suspicions regarding the manner +of his death, his wife was put to inquisitorial +torture and was burnt at the stake when adjudged +guilty of murder. Among the Germans women +seem to have been held in somewhat greater respect. +German matrons were esteemed as prophetesses +and no battle was entered upon unless they +had first consulted the lots and given assurance +that the fight would be successful.<a name="FNanchor_289"></a><a + href="#Footnote_289"><sup>[289]</sup></a> As for the +British, who were not a Germanic people, Caesar +says that they practiced polygamy and near +relatives were accustomed to have wives in +common.<a name="FNanchor_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290"><sup>[290]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> The account of Tacitus.</div> +<p>Tacitus wrote a century and a half after Julius +<a name="Page_79"></a>Caesar when the tribes had become better known +the Romans; hence we get from him more detailed +information. From him we +learn that both the Sitones—a people +of northern Germany—and the British often bestowed +the royal power on women, a circumstance +which aroused the strong contempt of Tacitus, +who was in this respect of a conservative mind.<a name="FNanchor_291"></a><a + href="#Footnote_291"><sup>[291]</sup></a> +The Romans had, indeed, good reason to remember +with sorrow the valiant Boadicea, queen of the +Britons.<a name="FNanchor_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292"><sup>[292]</sup></a> +Regarding the Germans Tacitus wrote +a whole book in which he idealises that nation as +a contrast to the lax morality of civilised Rome, +much as Rousseau in the eighteenth century +extolled the virtues of savages in a state of nature. +What Tacitus says in regard to lofty morals we +shall do well to take with a pinch of salt; but +we may with more safety trust his accuracy +when he depicts national customs. From Tacitus +we learn that the Germans believed something +divine resided in women<a name="FNanchor_293"></a><a + href="#Footnote_293"><sup>[293]</sup></a>; hence their respect for +them as prophetesses.<a name="FNanchor_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294"><sup>[294]</sup></a> +One Velaeda by her +<a name="Page_80"></a>soothsaying ruled the tribe of Bructeri completely<a + name="FNanchor_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295"><sup>[295]</sup></a> +and was regarded as a goddess,<a name="FNanchor_296"></a><a + href="#Footnote_296"><sup>[296]</sup></a> as were many +others.<a name="FNanchor_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297"><sup>[297]</sup></a> +The German warrior fought his best +that he might protect and please his wife.<a name="FNanchor_298"></a><a + href="#Footnote_298"><sup>[298]</sup></a> The +standard of conjugal fidelity was strict<a name="FNanchor_299"></a><a + href="#Footnote_299"><sup>[299]</sup></a>; men were +content with one wife, although high nobles were +sometimes allowed several wives as an increase +to the family prestige.<a name="FNanchor_300"></a><a + href="#Footnote_300"><sup>[300]</sup></a> The dowry was brought +not by the wife to the husband, but to the wife +by the husband—evidently a survival of the +custom of wife purchase; but the wife was accustomed +to present her husband with arms and the +accoutrements of war.<a name="FNanchor_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301"><sup>[301]</sup></a> +She was reminded that +she took her husband for better and worse, to be +a faithful partner in joy and sorrow until death.<a name="FNanchor_302"></a><a + href="#Footnote_302"><sup>[302]</sup></a> +A woman guilty of adultery was shorn and her +husband drove her naked through the village +with blows.<a name="FNanchor_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303"><sup>[303]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> The written laws of the barbarians.</div> +<p>We see, then, that by no means all of these +barbarian nations had the same standards in +regard to women. Of written laws there were +<a name="Page_81"></a>none as yet. But contact with the civilisation +of Rome had its effect; and when Goths, Burgunindians, +Franks, and Lombards had +founded new states on the ruins of the +western Roman Empire, the national +laws of the Germanic tribes began to be collected +and put into writing at the close of the fifth century. +Between the fifth and the ninth centuries we +get the Visigothic, Burgundian, Salic, Ripuarian, +Alemannic, Lombardian, Bavarian, Frisian, Saxon, +and Thuringian law books. They are written in +medieval Latin and are not elaborated on a scientific +basis. Three distinct influences are to be +seen in them: <span style="font-weight: bold;">(1) </span>native race +customs, ideals, and +traditions; <span style="font-weight: bold;">(2)</span> Christianity; <span + style="font-weight: bold;">(3)</span> the Roman civil +law, which was felt more or less in all, but especially +in the case of the Visigoths; as was natural, +since this people had been brought into closest +touch with Rome. Inasmuch as the barbarians +allowed all peoples conquered by them to be tried +under their own laws, the old Roman civil law +was still potent in all its strength in cases affecting +a Roman. Let us endeavour to glean what we +can from the barbarian codes on the matter of +women's rights.</p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Guardianship.</div> +<p>The woman was always to be under guardianship +among the Germanic peoples and could never be +independent under any conditions. Perhaps +we should rather call the power +(<i>mundium</i>) wielded by father, brother, husband, or +other male relative a protectorate; for in those early +<a name="Page_82"></a>days among rude peoples any legal action might +involve fighting to prove the merits of one's case, +and the woman would therefore constantly need a +champion to assert her rights in the lists. Thus the +woman was under the perpetual guardianship of a +male relative and must do nothing without his consent, +under penalty of losing her property.<a name="FNanchor_304"></a><a + href="#Footnote_304"><sup>[304]</sup></a> Her +guardian arranged her marriage for her as he +wished, provided only that he chose a free man +for her husband<a name="FNanchor_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305"><sup>[305]</sup></a>; +if the woman, whether +virgin +or widow, married without his consent, she lost +all power to inherit the goods of her relatives<a name="FNanchor_306"></a><a + href="#Footnote_306"><sup>[306]</sup></a>; +and her husband was forced to pay to her kin a +recompense amounting to 600 <i>solidi</i> among the +Saxons, 186 among the Burgundians.<a name="FNanchor_307"></a><a + href="#Footnote_307"><sup>[307]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Marriage.</div> +<p><a name="Page_83"></a>The feeling of caste was very strong; a woman +must not marry below her station.<a name="FNanchor_308"></a><a + href="#Footnote_308"><sup>[308]</sup></a> By a law +of the Visigoths she who tried to marry +her own slave was to be burned alive<a name="FNanchor_309"></a><a + href="#Footnote_309"><sup>[309]</sup></a>; +if she attempted it with another's bondman, she +merited one hundred lashes.<a name="FNanchor_310"></a><a + href="#Footnote_310"><sup>[310]</sup></a> The dowry was a +fixed institution as among the Romans; but the +bridegroom regularly paid a large sum to the father +or guardian of the woman. This <i>wittemon</i> was +regarded as the price paid for the parental authority +(<i>mundium</i>) and amounted among the +Saxons to 300 <i>solidi</i>.<a name="FNanchor_311"></a><a + href="#Footnote_311"><sup>[311]</sup></a> As a matter of fact this +custom practically amounted to the intended +husband giving the dowry to his future wife. The +husband was also allowed to present his wife with +a donation (<i>morgengabe</i>) on the morning after the +<a name="Page_84"></a>wedding; the amount was limited by King Liutprand +to not more than one fourth of all his goods.<a name="FNanchor_312"></a><a + href="#Footnote_312"><sup>[312]</sup></a> +Breaking an engagement after the solemn betrothal +had been entered into was a serious +business. The Visigoths refused to allow one party +to break an engagement without the consent of +the other; and if a woman, being already engaged, +went over to another man without her parent's +or fiancé's leave, both she and the man who took +her were handed over as slaves to the original +fiancé.<a name="FNanchor_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313"><sup>[313]</sup></a> +The other barbarians were content to +inflict a money fine for breach of promise.<a name="FNanchor_314"></a><a + href="#Footnote_314"><sup>[314]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Power of the husband.</div> +<p>The woman on marrying passed into the power +of her husband "according to the Sacred Scriptures," +and the husband thereupon acquired +the lordship of all her property.<a name="FNanchor_315"></a><a + href="#Footnote_315"><sup>[315]</sup></a> +The law still protected the wife in some ways. +The Visigoths gave the father the right of demanding +and preserving for his daughter her dowry.<a name="FNanchor_316"></a><a + href="#Footnote_316"><sup>[316]</sup></a> +The Ripuarians ordained that whatever the hus<a name="Page_85"></a>band +had given his wife by written agreement +must remain inviolate.<a name="FNanchor_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317"><sup>[317]</sup></a> +King Liutprand made +the presence of two or three of the woman's male +relatives necessary at any sale involving her goods, +to see to it that her consent to the sale had not +been forced.<a name="FNanchor_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318"><sup>[318]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Divorce.</div> +<p>On the subject of divorce the regulations of the +several peoples are various; but the commands of +the New Testament are alike strongly felt +in all; and we may expect to find divorce +limited by severe restrictions.<a name="FNanchor_319"></a><a + href="#Footnote_319"><sup>[319]</sup></a> The Burgundians +allowed it only for adultery or grave crimes, such +as violating tombs. If a wife presumed to dismiss +her husband for any other cause, she was put to +death (<i>necetur in luto</i>); to a husband who sent his +wife a divorce without these specific reasons existing +the law was more indulgent, allowing him to +preserve his life by paying to his injured wife twice +the amount that he had originally given her +parents for her, and twelve <i>solidi</i> in addition; and +in case he attempted to prove her guilty of one of +the charges mentioned above and she was adjudged +innocent, he forfeited all his goods to her +and was forced to leave his home.<a name="FNanchor_320"></a><a + href="#Footnote_320"><sup>[320]</sup></a> The Visigoths +<a name="Page_86"></a>were equally strict; the husband who dismissed +his +wife on insufficient legal grounds lost all power +over her and must return all her goods; his own +must be preserved for the children; if there were +none, the wife acquired his property. A woman +who married a divorced man while his first wife +was living, was condemned for adultery and +accordingly handed over to the first wife to be +disposed of as the latter wished; exile, stripes, and +slavery were the lot of a man who took another +wife while his first partner was still alive.<a name="FNanchor_321"></a><a + href="#Footnote_321"><sup>[321]</sup></a> The +Alemanni and the Bavarians, who were more +remote from Italy and hence from the Church, +were influenced more by their own customs and +allowed a pecuniary recompense to take the place +of the harsher enactments.<a name="FNanchor_322"></a><a + href="#Footnote_322"><sup>[322]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Adultery.</div> +<p>Adultery was not only a legal cause for divorce, +but also a grave crime. All the barbarian peoples +are agreed in so regarding it, but their +penalties vary according as they were +more or less affected by proximity to Italy, where +the power of the Church was naturally strongest. +The Ripuarians, the Bavarians, and the Alemanni +preferred a money fine ranging from fifty to two +hundred <i>solidi</i>.<a name="FNanchor_323"></a><a + href="#Footnote_323"><sup>[323]</sup></a> Among the Visigoths the +guilty +party was usually bound over in servitude to the +injured person to be disposed of as the latter +<a name="Page_87"></a>wished.<a name="FNanchor_324"></a><a + href="#Footnote_324"><sup>[324]</sup></a> Sometimes the law was +harsher to +women than to men; thus, according to a decree +of Liutprand,<a name="FNanchor_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325"><sup>[325]</sup></a> +a husband who told his wife to +commit adultery or who did so himself paid a +mulct of fifty <i>solidi</i> to the wife's male relatives; +but if the wife consented to or hid the deed, she +was put to death. The laws all agree that the +killing of adulterers taken in the act could not be +regarded as murder.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> The Church indulgent toward kings.</div> +<p>It is always to be remembered that although the +statutes were severe enough, yet during this period, +as indeed throughout all history, they +were defied with impunity. Charlemagne, +for example, the most Christian +monarch, had a large number of concubines and +divorced a wife who did not please him; yet his +biographer Einhard, pious monk as he was, has no +word of censure for his monarch's irregularities<a name="FNanchor_326"></a><a + href="#Footnote_326"><sup>[326]</sup></a>; +and policy prevented the Church from thundering +at a king who so valiantly crushed the heretics, her +enemies. Bishop Gregory of Tours tells us without +a hint of being shocked that Clothacharius, +King of the Franks, had many concubines.<a name="FNanchor_327"></a><a + href="#Footnote_327"><sup>[327]</sup></a> Con<a name="Page_88"></a>cubinage +was, in fact, the regular thing.<a name="FNanchor_328"></a><a + href="#Footnote_328"><sup>[328]</sup></a> But +neither in that age, nor later in the case of Louis +XIV, nor in our own day in the case of Leopold of +Belgium has the Church had a word of reproach +for monarchs who broke with impunity moral laws +on which she claims always to have insisted without +compromise.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Remarriage.</div> +<p>In accordance with the commands of Scripture +neither the divorced man nor the divorced woman +could marry again during the lifetime +of the other party. To do so was to +commit adultery, for which the usual penalties +went into effect.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Property rights and powers.</div> +<p>A woman's property would consist of any or +all of these:</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span> Her share of the property +of +parents or brothers and sisters.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> Her dowry and whatever +nuptial donations +(<i>morgengabe</i>) her husband had given her, +and whatever she had earned together with her +husband.</p> +<p>There could be no account of single women's +property or disposal of what they earned, because +in the half-civilised state of things which then +obtained there was no such thing as women +engaging in business; indeed, not even men of any +pretension did so; war was their work. The +unmarried woman was content to sit by the fire +<a name="Page_89"></a>and spin under the guardianship and support of a +male relative. Often she would enter a convent.</p> +<p>I shall first discuss the laws of inheritance as +affecting women, in order to note what property +she was allowed to acquire. In this connection +it is well to bear in mind a difference between +Roman and Germanic law. The former viewed +an inheritance as consisting always of a totality +of all goods, whether of money, land, movables, +cattle, dress, or what not. But among the +Germanic peoples land, money, ornaments, and the +like were regarded as so many distinct articles of +inheritance, to some of which women might have +legal claims of succession, but not necessarily to +all. This is most emphatically shown in the case +of land. Of all the barbarian peoples, the Ripuarians +alone allowed women the right to succeed +to land.<a name="FNanchor_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329"><sup>[329]</sup></a> +Among other nations a daughter or +sister or mother, whoever happened to be the +nearest heir, would get the money, slaves, etc., +but the nearest <i>male</i> kin would get the land.<a + name="FNanchor_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330"><sup>[330]</sup></a> +Only if male kin were lacking to the fifth degree—an improbable +contingency—did alodial inheritance "pass from the lance +to the spindle."<a name="FNanchor_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331"><sup>[331]</sup></a> +<a name="Page_90"></a>In respect to all other things a daughter was +co-heir +with a son to the estate of a father or mother. +According to the Salic and </p> +<p>Ripuarian law this +would be one order of succession<a name="FNanchor_332"></a><a + href="#Footnote_332"><sup>[332]</sup></a>:</p> +<br> +<table summary="" border="0" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">I.</span></td> + <td> Children of the deceased.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II.</span></td> + <td> These failing, surviving mother or +father of deceased.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">III.</span></td> + <td> These failing, brother or sister +of deceased.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV.</span></td> + <td> These failing, sister of mother of +deceased.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">V.</span></td> + <td> These failing, sister of father of +deceased.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">VI.</span></td> + <td> These failing, male relatives on +father's side.</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<p>It will be observed that in such a succession these +laws are more partial to women relatives than the +Roman law; an aunt, for example, is called before +an uncle. An uncle would certainly exclude an +aunt under the Roman law; but most of the +Germanic codes allowed them an equal succession.<a name="FNanchor_333"></a><a + href="#Footnote_333"><sup>[333]</sup></a> +Nevertheless, when women did inherit under +the former, they acquired the land also. Moreover, +the woman among the Germanic nations +must always be under guardianship; and whereas +under the Empire the power of the guardian was +in practice reduced to nullity, as I have shown, +among the barbarians it was extremely powerful, +because to assert one's rights often involved +fighting in the lists to determine the judgment +<a name="Page_91"></a>of God. It was a settled conviction among the +Germanic peoples that God would give the victory +to the rightful claimant. As women could not +fight, a champion or guardian was a necessity. +This was not true in Roman courts, which preferred +to settle litigation by juristic reasoning and believed, +like Napoleon, that God, when appealed to +in a fight, was generally on the side of the party +who had the better artillery.</p> +<p>Children inherited not only the estate but also +the friendships and enmities of their fathers, which +it was their duty to take up. Hereditary feuds +were a usual thing.<a name="FNanchor_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334"><sup>[334]</sup></a> +King Liutprand ordaine<a name="FNanchor_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335"><sup>[335]</sup></a> +however, that if a daughter alone survived, the +feud was to be brought to an end and an agreement +effected.</p> +<p>Some of the nations seem to have provided +that children must not be disinherited except for +very strong reasons; for example, the law of the +Visigoths<a name="FNanchor_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336"><sup>[336]</sup></a> +forbids more than one third of their +estate being alienated by mother or father, +grandmother or grandfather. The Alemanni permitted +a free man to leave all his property to the +Church and his heirs had no redress<a name="FNanchor_337"></a><a + href="#Footnote_337"><sup>[337]</sup></a>; but the +Bavarians compelled him before entering monastic +life to distribute among his children their proportionate +parts.<a name="FNanchor_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338"><sup>[338]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Property of the married woman.</div> +<p><a name="Page_92"></a>We may pass now to the property rights of the +married woman. The relation of her husband +to the dowry I have already explained. +The dowry was conceived as being +ultimately for the children; only when +there were no children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren +did the woman have licence to dispose +of the dowry as she wished: this was the law +among the Visigoths.<a name="FNanchor_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339"><sup>[339]</sup></a> +The dowry, then, was +to revert to the children or grandchildren at the +death of the wife; if there were none such, to the +parents or relatives who had given her in marriage; +these failing, it escheated to the Crown—so +according to Rotharis.<a name="FNanchor_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340"><sup>[340]</sup></a> +By the laws of the +Visigoths<a name="FNanchor_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341"><sup>[341]</sup></a> +when the wife died, her husband continued +in charge of the property; but, as under the +Roman law, he had to preserve it entire for the +children, though he might enjoy the usufruct. +When a son or daughter married, their father must +at once give them their share of their mother's +goods, although he could still receive the income +of one third of the portion. If son or daughter +did not marry, they received one half their share +on becoming twenty years of age; their father +might claim the interest of the other half while +he lived; but at his death he must leave it to them. +When a woman left no children, her father or nearest +male kin usually demanded the dowry back.<a name="FNanchor_342"></a><a + href="#Footnote_342"><sup>[342]</sup></a> +<a name="Page_93"></a>When the husband died, his estate did not go to +wife, but to his children or other relatives.<a name="FNanchor_343"></a><a + href="#Footnote_343"><sup>[343]</sup></a> +If however, any property had been earned by the +joint labour of husband and wife, the latter had a +right to one half among the Westfalians; to one +third among the Ripuarians; to nothing among the +Ostfalians.<a name="FNanchor_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344"><sup>[344]</sup></a> +Children remained in the power of +their mother if she so desired and provided she +remained a widow. A mother usually had the +enjoyment of her dowry until her death, when she +must leave it to her children or to the donor or +nearest relative.<a name="FNanchor_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345"><sup>[345]</sup></a> +If the husband died +without +issue, some nations allowed the wife a certain +succession to her husband's goods, provided that +she did not marry again. Thus, the Burgundians +gave her under such conditions one third of her +husband's estate to be left to his heirs, however, at +her death.<a name="FNanchor_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346"><sup>[346]</sup></a> +The Bavarians, too, under the same +conditions allowed her one half of her husband's +goods<a name="FNanchor_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347"><sup>[347]</sup></a> +and even if there was issue, granted her +the right to the interest of as much as one child +received.<a name="FNanchor_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348"><sup>[348]</sup></a></p> +<p>A widow who married again lost the privilege +<a name="Page_94"></a>of guardianship over her children, who thereupon +passed to a male relative of the first husband. As +to the dowry of the prior union the woman must +make it over at once to her children according to +some laws or, according to others, might receive +the usufruct during life and leave it to the children +of the first marriage at her death. Any right to the +property of her first husband she of course lost.<a name="FNanchor_349"></a><a + href="#Footnote_349"><sup>[349]</sup></a> +When there was no issue of the first marriage +then the dowry and nuptial donations could +usually follow her to a second union.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Criminal law pertaining to women.</div> +<p>Criminal law among these half civilised +nations could not but be a crude affair. Their +civilisation was in a state of flux, and +immediate practical convenience was +the only guide. They were content to +fix the penalties for such outrages as murder, rape, +insult, assault, and the like in money; the Visigoths +alone were more stringent in a case of rape, +adding 200 lashes and slavery to the ravisher of +a free woman who had accomplished his purpose.<a name="FNanchor_350"></a><a + href="#Footnote_350"><sup>[350]</sup></a> +Some enactments which may well strike us as +peculiar deserve notice. For example, among the +Saxons the theft of a horse or an ox or anything +worth three <i>solidi</i> merited death; but murder +was atoned for by pecuniary damages.<a name="FNanchor_351"></a><a + href="#Footnote_351"><sup>[351]</sup></a> Among +<a name="Page_95"></a>the Burgundians, if a man stole horses or cattle +and his wife did not at once disclose the deed, +she and her children who were over fourteen were +bound over in slavery to the outraged party "because +it hath often been ascertained, that these +women are the confederates of their husbands in +crime."<a name="FNanchor_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352"><sup>[352]</sup></a></p> +<p>The most minute regulations prevailed on the +subject of injury to women. Under the Salic law<a name="FNanchor_353"></a><a + href="#Footnote_353"><sup>[353]</sup></a> +for instance, if a free man struck a free women on +the fingers or hand, he had to pay fifteen <i>solidi</i>; +if he struck her arm, thirty <i>solidi</i>; if above her +elbow, thirty-five <i>solidi</i>; if he hit her breast, forty-five +<i>solidi</i>. The penalties for murdering a free +woman were also elaborated on the basis of her +value to the state as a bearer of children. By the +same Salic law<a name="FNanchor_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354"><sup>[354]</sup></a> +injury to a pregnant woman +resulting in her death merited a fine of seven +hundred <i>solidi</i>; but two hundred was deemed +sufficient for murder of one after her time +for bearing children had passed. Similarly, for +killing a free woman after she had begun to +have children the transgressor paid six hundred +<i>solidi</i>; but for murdering an unmarried freeborn +girl only two hundred. The murder +of a free woman was punished usually by a fine +<a name="Page_96"></a>(<i>wergeld</i>) equal to twice the amount +demanded +for a free man "because," as the law of the Bavarians +has it,<a name="FNanchor_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355"><sup>[355]</sup></a> +"a woman can not defend herself +with arms. But if, in the boldness of her heart +(per audaciam cordis sui), she shall have resisted +and fought like a man, there shall not be a double +penalty, but only the recompense usual for a man +[160 <span style="font-style: italic;">solidi</span>]." Fines were not +paid to the state, +but to the injuried parties or, if these did not +survive, to the nearest kin. If the fine could not +be paid, then might death be meted to the guilty.<a name="FNanchor_356"></a><a + href="#Footnote_356"><sup>[356]</sup></a></p> +<p>Another peculiar feature of the Germanic law +was the appeal to God to decide a moot point by +various ordeals. For example, by the laws of the +Angles and Werini, if a woman was accused of +murdering her husband, she would ask a male +relative to assert her innocence by a solemn oath<a name="FNanchor_357"></a><a + href="#Footnote_357"><sup>[357]</sup></a> +or, if necessary, by fighting for her as her champion +in the lists. God was supposed to give the victory +to the champion who defended an innocent party. +<a name="Page_97"></a>If she could find no champion, she was permitted +to +walk barefoot over nine red-hot ploughshares<a name="FNanchor_358"></a><a + href="#Footnote_358"><sup>[358]</sup></a>; +and if she was innocent, God would not, of course, +allow her to suffer any injury in the act.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women in slavery.</div> +<p>Perhaps a word on the status of women in +slavery among the Germanic nations will not be +out of place. The new nations looked +upon a slave as a chattel, much as the +Romans did. If a wrong was done a slave woman, +her master received a recompense from the +aggressor, but she did not, for to hold property +was denied her. But we may well believe that the +great value which the Church put on chastity +and conjugal fidelity rendered the slave woman +less exposed to the brutal passions of her lord +than had been the case under the Empire. Thus, +by a law of King Liutprand, a master who committed +adultery with the wife of a slave was +compelled to free both<a name="FNanchor_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359"><sup>[359]</sup></a>; +and the Visigot<a name="FNanchor_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360"><sup>[360]</sup></a> +inflicted +fifty lashes and a fine of twenty <i>solidi</i> upon +the man who used violence to another man's slave +woman.</p> +<p>On comparing the position of women under +Roman law and under the Germanic nations, as +we have observed them thus far, we should note +first of all that under the latter women benefited +chiefly by the insistence of the Church on the value +<a name="Page_98"></a>of chastity in both sexes. That in those days the +passions of men were difficult to restrain in practice +does not invalidate the real service done the +world by the ideal that was insisted upon,<a name="FNanchor_361"></a><a + href="#Footnote_361"><sup>[361]</sup></a> an +ideal which was certainly not held in pagan +antiquity except by a few great minds. Although +the social position of woman was thus improved, +the character of the age and the sentiments of the +Bible which I have already quoted made her status +far inferior to her condition under Roman law so +far as her legal rights were concerned. In a +period<a name="FNanchor_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362"><sup>[362]</sup></a> +when the assertion of one's rights constantly +demanded fighting, the woman was forced +to rely on the male to champion her; the Church, +in accordance with the dicta of the Apostles, encouraged +and indeed commanded her to confine +herself to the duties of the household, to leave legal +matters to men, and to be guided by their advice; +and thus she was prevented from asserting herself +out of regard for the strong public opinion on the +subject, which was quite alien to the sentiments +of the old Roman law. Henceforward also we +are to have law based on old customs and <i>theology</i>,<a + name="FNanchor_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363"><sup>[363]</sup></a> +not on practical convenience or scientific reasoning.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;"><a name="Page_99"></a>SOURCES</h4> +<p>I. Corpus Iuris Germanici Antiqui: edidit Ferd. Walter. +Berolini—impensis G. Reimeri, 1824. 3 vols.</p> +<p>II. C. Iulii Caesaris Commentarii de Bello Gallico: recognovit +Geo. Long. Novi Eboraci apud Harperos Fratres. 1883</p> +<p>III. Cornelii Taciti libri qui supersunt: quartum recognovit +Carolus Halm. Lipsiae (Teubner), 1901.</p> +<p>IV. Sancti Georgii Florentii Gregorii, Episcopi Turonensis, +Historiae Ecclesiasticae Francorum libri decem: edidit J. +Guadet et N.R. Taranne. Parisiis, apud Julium Renouard et +Socios, 1838.</p> +<p>V. Iordanis de Origine Actibusque Getorum: edidit Alfred +Holder. Freiburg und Tubingen; Verlagsbuchhandlung von J. +C.B. Mohr.</p> +<p>VI. Widukindi Rerum Gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres. +Accedit libellus de Origine Gentis Suevorum. Editio quarta: +post Georgium Waitz recognovit Karolus A. Kehr. Hannoverae +et Lipsiae Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1904.</p> +<p>VII. Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia: recognovit Jacobus +Haury. Lipsiae. (Teubner). 1905.</p> +<p>VIII. Einhardi Vita Karoli Magni. Editio quinta. Post +G.H. Perte recensuit G. Waitz. Hannoverae et Lipsiae, 1905.</p> +<p>IX. Pauli Historia Langobardorum: edidit Georg Waitz. +Hannoverae, impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1878.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288">[288]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>de Bell. Gall</i>., vi, 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289">[289]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., i, 50.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290">[290]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., v, 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291">[291]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Agricola</i>, 16. <i>Germania</i>, 45: Suionibus Sitonum +gentes +continuantur. Cetera similes, uno differunt, quod femina dominatur; +in tantum non modo a libertate, sed etiam a servitute degenerant. +No woman ever reigned alone as queen of the Roman +Empire until 450 A.D., when Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II, +ascended the throne of the East; but she soon took the senator +Marcian in marriage and made him king.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292">[292]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Agricola</i>, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293">[293]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Germania</i>, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294">[294]</a> +<div class="note"> Procopius, <i>de bello Vandalico</i>, ii, 8, +observes the same thing +among the Maurousians, or Moors, <br> +in northern Africa: +<div + title="andra gar manteuesthai en tô ethnei toutô ou themis, alla gunaikes sphisi katochoi hek dê tinos +ierourgias ginomenai prolegousi ta esomena, tôn palai chrêstêriôn +oudenos êsson.">Ανδρα +γαρ μαντευεσθαι εν τω εθνει τουτω ου θεμις +, αλλα γυναικες σφισι κατοχοι <br> +hεκ δη τινος ιερουργιασ γινομεναι +προλεγουσι τα εσομενα, +των παλαι +χρηστηριων ουδενος ησσον.</div> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295">[295]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Tacitus, <i>Hist</i>., iv, 61, and v, 24.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296">[296]</a><a + href="#FNanchor_296"></a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., <i>Germania</i>, 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297">[297]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298">[298]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., 7.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299">[299]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., 17.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300">[300]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301">[301]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., 18.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302">[302]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., 18 and 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303">[303]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., 19.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304">[304]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Liutprand, i, 5: Si filiae aut sorores contra voluntatem patris +aut fratris egerint, potestatem habet pater aut frater iudicandi +res suas quomodo aut qualiter voluerit.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305">[305]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Leges Liutprandi, vi, 119: si quis filiam suam aut sororem +alii sponsare voluerit, habeat potestatem dandi cui voluerit, +libero tamen homini. Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 1, 7 and 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306">[306]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Leges Liutprandi, vi, 119. Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, +x, 2: si libera femina sine voluntate patris aut tutoris cuilibet +nupserit, perdat omnem substantiam quam habuit vel habere +debuit. Reply of a bishop quoted by Gregory of Tours, 9, 33: +quia sine consilio parentum eam coniugio copulasti, non erit +uxor tua. But the law of the Visigoths (iii, i, 8, and 2,8) merely +deprived her of succession to the estate of her parents.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307">[307]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Saxonum, vi, 2: Si autem sine voluntate parentum, puella +tamen consentiente, ducta fuerit (uxorem ducturus) bis ccc +solidos parentibus eius componat. Lex Burgundionum: <i>Add</i>., +14. cf. Edictum Rotharis, 188: si puella libera aut vidua sine +voluntate parentum ad maritum ambulaverit, liberum tamen, +tunc maritus, qui eam acceperit uxorem, componat pro anagrip +solidos XX et propter faidam alios XX.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308">[308]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> By a law of the Alemanni (<i>Tit</i>., 57), if two sisters were +heiresses +to a father's estate and one married a vassal (<i>colonus</i>) of the +King +or Church and the other became the wife of a free man equal +to her in rank, the latter only was allowed to hold her father's +land, although the rest of the goods were divided equally.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309">[309]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 2, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310">[310]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., iii, 2, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311">[311]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Saxonum, vi, I: uxorem ducturus CCC solidos det parentibus +eius. See also the lex Burgundionum, 66, I and 2 and 3. +In the case of a widow who married again the gift of the husband +was called <i>reiphe</i> or <i>reippus</i> and very solemn ceremonies +belonged to the giving of it according to the Salic law, <i>Tit</i>., +47: si, ut fieri adsolet, homo moriens viduam dimiserit et cam +quis in coniugium voluerit accipere, antequam eam accipiat +Tunginus aut Centenarius Mallum indicent, et in ipso Mallo +scutum habere debet, et tres homines vel caussas mandare. Et +tunc ille, qui viduam accipere vult, cum tribus testibus qui +adprobare debent, tres solidos aeque pensantes, et denarium +habere debet, etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312">[312]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Leges Liutprandi, ii, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313">[313]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 1, 2 and 3, and iii, 6, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314">[314]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> E.g., 62 <i>solidi</i> by the Salic law, <i>Tit</i>., 70. See +also Lex +Baiuvariorum, <i>Tit</i>., vii, 15 and 16 and 17. Lex Alemannorum, +52, i; 53; 54.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315">[315]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Burgundionum, <i>Add. primum</i>, xiii: quaecumque mulier +Burgundia vel Romana voluntate sua ad maritum ambulaverit, +iubemus ut maritus ipse de facultate ipsius mulieris, sicut in +eam habet potestatem, ita et de rebus suis habeat. +</p> +<p>Lex Wisigothorum, iv, 2, 15: Vir qui uxorem suam secundum +sacram scripturam habet in potestate, similiter et in servis suis +potestatem habebit, et omnia quae cum servis uxoris suae vel +suis in expeditione acquisivit, in sua potestate permaneant.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316">[316]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iii, Tit. i, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317">[317]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Ripuariorum, 37, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318">[318]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Leges Liutprandi, iv, 4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319">[319]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> That is, for the common people. Kings have always had a +little way of doing as they pleased. See the anecdote of King +Cusupald in Paulus' <i>Hist. Langobard</i>, i, 21: secunda autem (sc. +filia Wacchonis) dicta est Walderada, quae sociata est Cusupald, +alio regi Francorum, quam ipse odio habens uni ex suis, qui +dicebatur Garipald, in coniugium tradidit.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320">[320]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For all this see Lex Burgundionum, 34, 1-4.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321">[321]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For all these, see Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 6, 1 and 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322">[322]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Capitula Addita ad Legem Alemannorum, 30. Lex Baiuvariorum, +vii, 14.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323">[323]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Ripuariorum, <i>Tit</i>., 35. Lex Baiuvariorum, vii. Lex +Alemannorum, 51, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324">[324]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 6, 1 and 2, and iii, 4, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325">[325]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Leges Liutprandi, vi, 130.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326">[326]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Einhard, <i>Vita Kar. Mag</i>., 17: Deinde cum matris hortatu +filiam Desiderii regis Langobardorum duxisset uxorem, incertum +qua de causa, post annum eam repudiavit et Hildigardam de +gente Suaborum praecipuae nobilitatis feminam in matrimonium +duxit ... Habuit et alias tres filias ... duas de +Fastrada uxore ... tertiam de concubina quadam ... +defuncta Fastrada ... tres habuit concubinas.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327">[327]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gregory of Tours, 4, 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328">[328]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The concubines of Theodoric—Jordanes, <i>de orig. acti +busque Get.</i>, 58. Huga, king of the Franks, had a filium quem ex +concubina genuit—Widukind, <i>Res Gest. Sax.</i>, i, 9.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329">[329]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Ripuariorum, <i>Til</i>., 48. Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, +vi—<i>de alodibus</i>, 1: hereditatem defuncti filius, non filia +suscipiat. +Salic Law, <i>Tit</i>., 62: <i>de alodis</i>, 6: de terra vero Salica +in +mulierem nulla portio hereditatis transit, sed hoc virilis sexus +adquirat, hoc est, filii in ipsa hereditate succedunt. Lex Saxonum, +vii, 1: Pater aut mater defuncti filio, non filiae hereditatem +relinquit.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330">[330]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, vi: <i>de alodibus</i>.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331">[331]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., vi, 8: post quintam autem (sc. generationem) filia ex +toto, sive de patris sive de matris parte, in hereditatem succedat, +et tunc demum hereditas ad fusum a lancea transeat.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332">[332]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Salica, <i>Tit.</i>, 62. Lex Ripuariorum, <i>Tit.</i>, 56.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333">[333]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Lex Wisigothorum, iv, 2, 7 and 9.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334">[334]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Tacitus, <i>Germania</i>, 21.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335">[335]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Legis Liutprandi, ii, 7.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336">[336]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iv, 5, I.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337">[337]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Alemannorum, <i>Tit.</i>, i.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338">[338]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Baiuvariorum, <i>Tit.</i>, i.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339">[339]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iv, 2, 20.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340">[340]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Edictum Rotharis, i, 121.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341">[341]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iv, 2, 13.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342">[342]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Capitula addita ad legem Alemannorum, 29. Lex +Saxonum, viii, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343">[343]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. lex Wisigothorum, iv, 2, 11: maritus et uxor tunc sibi +hereditario iure succedant, quando mulla affinitas usque ad +septimum gradum de propinquis eorum vel parentibus inveniri +poterit. See also Lex Burgundionum, 14, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344">[344]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Saxonum, ix. Lex Ripuariorum, 37, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345">[345]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Saxonum, viii. Lex Wisigothorum, iv, 3, 3. Lex Burgundionum +85, 1, and 62, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346">[346]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Burgundionum, 42, 1; 62, 1; 74, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347">[347]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Baiuvariorum, xiv, 9, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348">[348]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Ibid., xiv, 6.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349">[349]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For all this, see Lex Burgundionum, 24 and 62 and 74. Lex +Wisigothorum, iv, Tit. 3. Lex Baiuvariorum, 14. Lex Alemannorum, +55 and 56.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350">[350]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 3, 1.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351">[351]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Saxonum, iv. In the early days when the Great West +of the United States was just being opened up and when society +there was in a very crude state, a horse thief was regularly hanged; +but murder was hardly a fault.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352">[352]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Burgundionum, 47, 1 and 2. The guilty man was put +to death.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353">[353]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Salica, <i>Tit.</i>, 23.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354">[354]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id, <i>Tit.</i>, 28.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355">[355]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Baiuvariorum, <i>Tit.</i>, xiii, 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356">[356]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. lex Salica, <i>Tit.</i>, 61—a very curious account of +formalities +to be observed in such a case.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357">[357]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> It was deemed sufficient for a male relative, say, the father, +to assert the innocence of the woman under solemn oath: for +it was thought that he would be unwilling to do this if he knew +the woman was guilty and so incur eternal Hell-fire as a punishment +for perjury. An example of this solemn ceremony is +told interestingly by Gregory of Tours, 5, 33. A woman at +Paris was charged by her husband's relatives with adultery and +was demanded to be put to death. Her father took a solemn +oath that she was innocent. Far from being content with this, +the husband's kin began a fight and the matter ended in a wholesale +butchery at the church of St. Dionysius.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358">[358]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, xiv: aut si campionem non +habuerit, ipsa ad novem vomeres ignitos examinanda mittatur.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359">[359]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Leges Liutprandi, vi, 140.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360">[360]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Lex Wisigothorum, iii, 4, 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361">[361]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See the interesting story of the girl who slew Duke Amalo, +as narrated by Gregory of Tours, 9, 27.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362">[362]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The bloody nature of the times is depicted naïvely by Gregory, +Bishop of Tours, who wrote the history of the Franks. +See, e.g., the stories of Ingeltrudis, Rigunthis, Waddo, Amalo, +etc., in Book 9. Gregory was born in 539.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363">[363]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Corpus Iuris Canonici</i> (Friedberg), vol. i, p. 1, <i>Distinctio +Prima</i>: ius naturae est quod in lege et <i>evangelio</i> continetur.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_100"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> +<h2>DIGRESSION OF THE LATER HISTORY OF +ROMAN LAW</h2> +<br> +<p>With Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor +by the Pope in the year 800, began +the definite union of Church and State and the +Church's temporal power. Henceforth for seven +centuries, until the Reformation, we shall have +to reckon with canon law as a supreme force in +determining the question of the position of +women. A brief survey of the later history of +the old Roman Law will not be out of place in +order to note what influence, if any, it continued +to exert down the ages.</p> +<p>The body of the Roman law, compiled by +order of Justinian (527-565 A.D.), was intended +primarily for the eastern empire; but when, in the +year 535, the Emperor conquered the western +Goths, who then ruled Italy, he ordered his laws +taught in the school of jurisprudence at Rome +and practiced in the courts. I have already remarked +that the barbarians who overran Italy +allowed the vanquished the right to be judged in +most cases by their own code. But the splendid +fabric of the Roman law was too elaborate a +<a name="Page_101"></a>system to win the attentive study of a rude +people; the Church had its own canons, the people +their own ancestral customs; and until the twelfth +century no development of the Roman Civil Code +took place. Finally, during the twelfth century, +the great school at Bologna renewed the study +with vigour, and Italy at the present day derives +the basic principles of its civil law from the Corpus +of Justinian. Practically the same story holds +true of France,<a name="FNanchor_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364"><sup>[364]</sup></a> +of Spain, and of the +Netherlands, +all of whom have been influenced particularly by +the great jurists of the sixteenth century who were +simply carrying further the torch that had been +lit so enthusiastically at Bologna in the twelfth +century.</p> +<p>As to Germany,<a name="FNanchor_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365"><sup>[365]</sup></a> +when that unhappy +country +had been separated from France and Italy after +the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Carlovingian law and +the ancient German law books fell into disuse. +The law again rested on unwritten customs, on +the decisions of the judges and their assessors, and +on agreements of the interested parties (feudal +services and tenures). Not till the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries was any record made of +the rules of law which had arisen; many laws of +cities on various matters and in various provinces +were recorded by public authority; and thus +<a name="Page_102"></a>originated the so-called law books of the Middle +Ages, the private labours of experienced men, who +set forth the legal principles which were recognised +in all Germany, or at least in certain parts of it. +There were no law schools as yet, and scientific +compilation of German law was not even thought +of. After the University of Bologna had revived +the study of Roman law in Italy, the Italian +universities attracted the German youth, who on +their return would labour to introduce what they +had learned. Their efforts were seconded by the +clergy, through the close connection with canon +law which was in force in Germany. German +emperors and territorial lords also favoured Roman +law because they saw how well suited it was to +absolutism; they liked to engage jurists trained +in Italy, especially if they were doctors of both +canon and Roman law. Nor did the German +people object. From the fourteenth century +many schools of jurisprudence were established +on Italian models.</p> +<p>At present, the law of Justinian has only such +force as is received by usage or as it has acquired by +recognition. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span> The Roman law +forms in Germany +the principal law in some branches, that is, +it is in so far its basis that the German law is +only an addition or modification of it. In other +branches it is only supplementary, that is, it is +merely subsidiary to the German law. <span style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> +Only +the glossed parts and passages of Justinian's +law collection have binding force in Germany. <a name="Page_103"></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span> Only those glossed passages are +binding +which contain the latest rule of law. Consequently +the historical materials contained in them, +though always of great importance for discovering +the latest law, have not binding force. <span + style="font-weight: bold;">IV.</span> Those +precepts of the Roman law which relate to Roman +manners and institutions unknown in Germany are +inapplicable here, though glossed. <span style="font-weight: bold;">V.</span> +The Roman +law has but slight application to such objects +and transactions as were unknown to the Romans +and are of purely Germanic origin. <span style="font-weight: bold;">VI.</span> +With +the limitations above enumerated the Roman law +has been adopted as a whole and not in detached +parts.</p> +<p>In England Roman law has had practically +no effect. In the year 1149 a Lombard jurist, +Vacarius, lectured on it at Oxford; but there were +no results. Canon law is, of course, a force to be +reckoned with in Britain as on the Continent.</p> +<p>Before we enter the question of women's rights +during the Middle Ages, we must take a general +survey of the character of that period; for obviously +we cannot understand its legislation without +some idea of the background of social, political, +and intellectual life. In the first place, then, the +Church was everywhere triumphant and its +ideals governed legislation completely on such +matters as marriage. The civil law of Rome, as +drawn up first by the epitomisers and later studied +more carefully at Bologna, served to indicate +<a name="Page_104"></a>general principles in cases to which canon law +did not apply; but there was little jurisdiction in +which the powers ecclesiastical could not contrive +to take a hand. At the same time Germanic +ideals and customs continued a powerful force. +For a long time after the partition of the vast +empire of Charlemagne government was in a state +of chaos and transition from which eventually the +various distinct states arose. A struggle between +kings and nobles for supremacy dragged along +for many generations; and as during that contest +each feudal lord was master in his own domain, +there was no consistent code of laws for all countries +or, indeed, for the same country. Yet the +character of the age determined in a general way +the spirit that dictated all laws. Society rested +on a military and aristocratic basis, and when +the ability to wield arms is essential to maintain +one's rights, the position of women will be affected +by that fact. Beginning with the twelfth century +city life began to exert a political influence; and +this, again, did not fail to have an effect on the +status of women. Of any participation of women +in intellectual life there could be no question +until the Renaissance, although we do meet here +and there with isolated exceptions, a few ladies of +high degree like Roswitha of Gandersheim and +Hadwig, Duchess of Swabia, niece of Otto the +Great, and Heloise. The learning was exclusively +scholastic, and from any share in that women were +barred. When people are kept in ignorance, there +<a name="Page_105"></a>is less inducement for them to believe that they +have any rights or to assert them if they do +think so.</p> +<p>We shall do well to bear in mind, in noting the +laws relative to women, that theory is one thing +and practice quite another. Hence, although the +doctrines of the Church on various matters touching +the female sex were characterised by the +greatest purity, we shall see that in practice they +were not strictly executed. Religion does in fact +play a less considerable part in regulating the +daily acts of men than theologians are inclined to +believe. If anything proves this, it is the history of +that foulest stain on Christian nations—prostitution. +We might expect that since the Roman +Catholic Church insists so on chastity the level +of this virtue would certainly be higher in countries +which are almost exclusively Catholic, like Spain +and Italy, than in Protestant lands; but no one +who has ever travelled in Spain or Italy fails to +recognise that the conduct of men is as lamentably +low in these as in England, Germany, or the +United States.</p> +<p>With this brief introduction I shall proceed next +to explain the position of women under the canon +law, a code which affected all countries of Europe +equally until the Reformation; and in connection +with this I shall give some idea of the attitude of +the Roman Catholic Church towards women and +women's rights at the present day.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364">[364]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> French customary law began to be written in the thirteenth +century and was greatly affected by the Roman law.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365">[365]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The succeeding paragraphs are a summary of the account by +the learned Professor Mackeldey, who has investigated Roman +law with the most minute diligence.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_106"></a>CHAPTER VI<br> +</h2> +<h2>THE CANON LAW AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE +ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH</h2> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +The canon law reaffirms the subjection of women.</div> +<p>The canon law reaffirms woman's subjection to +man in no uncertain terms. The wife must +be submissive and obedient to her husband.<a name="FNanchor_366"></a><a + href="#Footnote_366"><sup>[366]</sup></a> +She must never, under penalty +of excommunication, cut off her hair, +because "God has given it to her as a veil and +as a sign of her subjection."<a name="FNanchor_367"></a><a + href="#Footnote_367"><sup>[367]</sup></a> A woman who +assumed men's garments was accursed<a name="FNanchor_368"></a><a + href="#Footnote_368"><sup>[368]</sup></a>; it will be +remembered that the breaking of this law was +one of the charges which brought Joan of Arc +to the stake. However learned and holy, woman +<a name="Page_107"></a>must never presume to teach men publicly.<a + name="FNanchor_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369"><sup>[369]</sup></a> +She was not allowed to bring a criminal action +except in cases of high treason or to avenge the +death of near relatives.<a name="FNanchor_370"></a><a + href="#Footnote_370"><sup>[370]</sup></a> Parents could dedicate +a daughter to God while she was yet an infant; +and this parental vow bound her to the nunnery +when she was mature, whether she was willing or +not.<a name="FNanchor_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371"><sup>[371]</sup></a> +Virgins or widows who had once consecrated +themselves to God might not marry under pain of +excommunication.<a name="FNanchor_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372"><sup>[372]</sup></a> +Parents could not +prevent a +daughter from taking vows, if she so wished, after +she had attained the age of twelve.<a name="FNanchor_373"></a><a + href="#Footnote_373"><sup>[373]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Woman and marriage under canon law.</div> +<p>The most important effect of the canon law +was on marriage, which was now a sacrament +and had its sanction not in +the laws of men, but in the express <a name="Page_108"></a>decrees +of God. Hence even engagements acquired +a sacred character unknown to the Roman law; +and when a betrothal had once been entered into, +it could be broken only in case one or both +of the contracting parties desired to enter a +monastery.<a name="FNanchor_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374"><sup>[374]</sup></a> +Free consent of both man and +woman was necessary for matrimony.<a name="FNanchor_375"></a><a + href="#Footnote_375"><sup>[375]</sup></a> There +must also be a dowry and a public ceremony.<a name="FNanchor_376"></a><a + href="#Footnote_376"><sup>[376]</sup></a> +The legitimate wife is thus defined<a name="FNanchor_377"></a><a + href="#Footnote_377"><sup>[377]</sup></a>: "A chaste +virgin, betrothed in chastity, dowered according to +law, given to her betrothed by her parents, and +received from the hands of the bridesmaids (<i>a +paranimphis accipienda</i>); she is to be taken +according to the laws and the Gospel and the +marriage ceremony must be public; all the days +of her life—unless by consent for brief periods to +<a name="Page_109"></a>devote to worship—she is never to be separated +from her husband; for the cause of adultery she is +to be dismissed, but while she lives her husband +may marry no other." The blessing of the priest +was necessary. About every form connected with +the marriage service the Church threw its halo of +mystery and symbol to emphasise the sacred +character of the union. Thus<a name="FNanchor_378"></a><a + href="#Footnote_378"><sup>[378]</sup></a>: "Women are +veiled during the marriage ceremony for this +reason, that they may know they are lowly and +in subjection to their husbands.... A ring is +given by the bridegroom to his betrothed either +as a sign of mutual love or rather that their hearts +may be bound together by this pledge. For this +reason, too, the ring is worn on the fourth finger, +because there is a certain vein in that finger which +they say reaches to the heart."</p> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +Clandestine marriages.</div> +<p>Clandestine marriages were forbidden,<a name="FNanchor_379"></a><a + href="#Footnote_379"><sup>[379]</sup></a> but the +Church always presumed everything it could in +favour of marriage and its indissolubility. +Thus, Gratian remarks<a name="FNanchor_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380"><sup>[380]</sup></a>: +"Clandestine +marriages are, to be sure, contrary to law; nevertheless, +they can not be dissolved." The reason +for forbidding them was perfectly reasonable: +one party might change his or her mind and there +would be no positive proof that a marriage had +taken place, so that a grave injury might be inflicted +on an innocent partner by an unscrupulous +<a name="Page_110"></a>one who desired to dissolve the union.<a + name="FNanchor_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381"><sup>[381]</sup></a> +Yet the +marriage by consent alone without any of the +ceremonies or the blessing of the priest was +perfectly valid, though not "according to law" +(<i>legitimum</i>), and could not be dissolved.<a name="FNanchor_382"></a><a + href="#Footnote_382"><sup>[382]</sup></a> +Not +until the great Council of Trent in 1563 was this +changed. At that time all marriages were declared +invalid unless they had been contracted in +the presence of a priest and two or three witnesses.<a + name="FNanchor_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383"><sup>[383]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Protection to women.</div> +<p>The Church is seen in its fairest light in its +provisions to protect the wife from sexual brutality +on the part of her husband, and it +deserves high praise for its stand on +such matters.<a name="FNanchor_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384"><sup>[384]</sup></a> +Various other laws show the same +regard for the interests of women. A man who was +entering priestly office could not cast off his wife +and leave her destitute, but must provide living +and raiment for her.<a name="FNanchor_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385"><sup>[385]</sup></a> +Neither husband nor wife +could embrace the celibate life nor devote themselves +to continence without the consent of the +other.<a name="FNanchor_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386"><sup>[386]</sup></a> +A man who cohabited with a woman as his +<a name="Page_111"></a>concubine, even though she was of servile +condition +or questionable character, could not dismiss her +and marry another saving for adultery.<a name="FNanchor_387"></a><a + href="#Footnote_387"><sup>[387]</sup></a> Slaves +were now allowed to contract marriages and +masters were not permitted to dissolve them.<a name="FNanchor_388"></a><a + href="#Footnote_388"><sup>[388]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Divorce.</div> +<p>It has always been and still is the boast of the +Roman Catholic Church that it has been the +supreme protector of women on account +of its stand on divorce. Says Cardinal +Gibbons<a name="FNanchor_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389"><sup>[389]</sup></a>: +"Christian wives and mothers, what +gratitude you owe to the Catholic Church for the +honorable position you now hold in society! If +you are no longer regarded as the slave, but the +equal, of your husbands; if you are no longer the +toy of his caprice, and liable to be discarded at any +moment; but if you are recognised as the mistress +and queen of your household, you owe your emancipation +to the Church. You are especially indebted +for your liberty to the Popes who rose up +in all the majesty of their spiritual power to vindicate +the rights of injured wives against the lustful +tyranny of their husbands." In view of such a +claim I may be justified in entering a somewhat +more detailed account of this subject.</p> +<p>On the subject of divorce the Roman Catholic +Church took the decided position which it continues +to maintain at the present day. Marriage when +<a name="Page_112"></a>entered upon under all the conditions demanded +by the Church for a valid union is indissoluble.<a name="FNanchor_390"></a><a + href="#Footnote_390"><sup>[390]</sup></a> +A separation "from bed and board" (<i>quoad +thorum seu quoad cohabitationem</i>) is allowed for +various causes, such as excessive cruelty, for a +determinate or an indeterminate period; but +there is no absolute divorce even for adultery. +For this cause a separation may, indeed, take +place, but the bond of matrimony is not dissolved +thereby and neither the innocent nor the guilty +party may marry again during the lifetime of the +other partner.</p> +<p>All this seems very rigorous. It is true that +the Roman Catholic Church does not permit +"divorce." But it allows fourteen cases where a +marriage can be declared absolutely null and void, +as if it had never existed; and in these cases the +man or woman may marry again. To say that +the Roman Church does not allow divorce is, +therefore, playing upon words. The instruments +used to render its strict theory ineffective are +"diriment impediments" and "dispensations."</p> +<p>By the doctrine of "diriment impediments" the +Pope or a duly constituted representative can +declare that a marriage has been null and void +from the very beginning because of some impediment +defined in the canon law. Canon IV of the +twenty-fourth session of the Council of Trent +<a name="Page_113"></a>anathematises anyone who shall say that the +Church cannot constitute impediments dissolving +marriage, or that she has erred in constituting +them. The impediments which can annul marriage +are described in the official Catholic Encyclopedia, +vol. vii, pages 697-698. Among them are +impuberty and impotency. Then there is "disparity +of worship," which renders void the marriage +of a Christian—that is, a Roman Catholic, +with an infidel,—that is, one who is unbaptised. +Marriage of a Roman Catholic with a baptised non-Catholic +constitutes a "relative" impediment and +needs a special dispensation and provisoes, such as +a guarantee to bring up the children in the Roman +faith to give it validity. Another impediment is +based on the presumption of want of consent, +"the nullity being caused by a defect of consent." +"This defect," says the Catholic Encyclopedia, +"may arise from the intellect or the will; hence +we have two classes. Arising from the intellect +we have: insanity; and total ignorance, even if in +confuso of what marriage is (this ignorance, however, +is not presumed to exist after the age of +puberty has been reached); and lastly error, where +the consent is not given to what was not intended. +Arising from the will, a defect of consent may be +caused through deceit or dissimulation, when one +expresses exteriorly a consent that does not really +exist; or from constraint imposed by an unjust +external force, which causes the consent not to be +free." Consanguinity and affinity are diriment +<a name="Page_114"></a>impediments. Consanguinity "prohibits all +marriages +in the direct ascending or descending line +in infinitum, and in the collateral line to the fourth +degree or fourth generation." Affinity "establishes +a bond of relationship between each of +the married parties and the blood relations of the +other, and forbids marriage between them to the +fourth degree. Such is the case when the marriage +springs from conjugal relations; but as canon +law considers affinity to spring also from illicit +intercourse, there is an illicit affinity which annuls +marriage to the second degree only." Then there +is "spiritual relationship"; for example, the +marriage of one who stood as sponsor in confirmation +with a parent of the child is null and void.</p> +<p>Under the canon law, even more resources are +open for the man who is tired of his wife; by +the doctrine, namely, of "spiritual fornication." +Adultery is, of course, recognised as the cause +that admits a separation. But the canon law +remarks that idolatry and all harmful superstition +—by which is meant any doctrine that does not +agree with that of the Church—is fornication; +that avarice is also idolatry and hence fornication; +that in fact no vice can be separated from idolatry +and hence all vices can be classed as fornication; +so that if a husband only tried a little bit, he +could without much trouble find some "vice" in +his wife that would entitle him to a separation.<a name="FNanchor_391"></a><a + href="#Footnote_391"><sup>[391]</sup></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_115"></a>When all these fail, recourse can be had to a +dispensation. The Church reserves the right to +give dispensations for all impediments. Canon +III of the twenty-fourth session of Trent says: +"If anyone shall say, that only those degrees of +consanguinity and affinity which are set down in +<i>Leviticus</i> [xviii, 6 ff.] can hinder matrimony from +being contracted, and dissolve it when contracted; +and that the Church can not dispense in some of +those degrees, or ordain that others may hinder +and dissolve it; let him be anathema."</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Inheritance</div> +<p>The minute and far-fetched subtleties which +the Roman Church has employed in the interpretation +of these relationships make escape from +the marital tie feasible for the man who is eager +to disencumber himself of his life's partner. The +man of limited means will have a hard time of it. +The great and wealthy have been able at all periods, +by working one or more of these doctrines, to +reduce the theory of the Roman Church to nullity +in practice. Napoleon had his marriage to Josephine +annulled on the ground that he had never +intended to enter into a religious marriage with +<a name="Page_116"></a>her, although the day before the ceremony he had +had the union secretly blessed by Cardinal Fesch. +On the basis of this avowed lack of intent, his +marriage with Josephine was declared null and +void, and he was free to marry Louisa. A plea +along the same lines is being worked by the Count +de Castellane now. Louis XII, having fallen in +love with Anne of Brittany, suddenly discovered +that his wife was his fourth cousin, that she was +deformed, and that her father had been his godfather; +and for this the Pope gave him a dispensation +and his legitimate wife was sent away. +The Pope did not thunder against Louis XIV for +committing adultery with women like Louise de +la Vallière and Madame de Montespan. It is +certainly true that in the case of Philip Augustus +of France and Henry VIII of England the Pope +did protect injured wives; but both these monarchs +were questioning the Vatican's autocracy. The +matrimonial relations of John of England, Philip's +contemporary, were more corrupt than those of +the French king; but, while the Pope chastised +John for his defiance of his political autonomy, he +did not excommunicate him on any ground of +morality. The statement of Cardinal Gibbons +is not entirely in accordance with history; he +does not take all facts into consideration, as is also +true of his complacent assumption that outside +of the Roman Church no economic forces and no +individuals have had any effect in elevating the +moral and economic status of women.</p> +<p><a name="Page_117"></a>Questions such as those of inheritance belong +properly to civil law; but the canon law claimed +to be heard in any case into which any +spiritual interest could be foisted. Thus +in the year 1199 Innocent III enacted that children +of heretics be deprived of all their offending +parents' goods "since in many cases even according +to divine decree children are punished in this +world on account of their parents."<a name="FNanchor_392"></a><a + href="#Footnote_392"><sup>[392]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> General attitude towards women at the present day</div> +<p>The attitude of the Roman Catholic Church +towards women's rights at the present day is +practically the same as it has been for +eighteen centuries. It still insists on the +subjection of the woman to the man, and +it is bitterly hostile to woman suffrage. +This position is so well illustrated by an article +of the Rev. David Barry in the Roman Catholic +paper, the Dublin <i>Irish Ecclesiastical Review</i>, that +I cannot do better than quote some of it. "It +seems plain enough," he says, "that allowing +women the right of suffrage is incompatible with +the high Catholic ideal of the unity of domestic +life. Even those who do not hold the high and +rigid ideal of the unity of the family that the +Catholic Church clings to must recognise some +authority in the family, as in every other society. +<a name="Page_118"></a>Is this authority the conjoint privilege of +husband +and wife? If so, which of them is to yield, if a +difference of opinion arises? Surely the most +uncompromising suffragette must admit that the +wife ought to give way in such a case. That is to +say, every one will admit that the wife's domestic +authority is subordinate to that of her husband. +But is she to be accorded an autonomy in outside +affairs that is denied her in the home? Her +authority is subject to her husband's in domestic +matters—her special sphere; is it to be considered +co-ordinate with his in regulating the affairs of +the State? Furthermore, there is an argument +that applies universally, even in the case of those +women who are not subject to the care and protection +of a husband, and even, I do not hesitate +to say, where the matters to be decided on would +come specially within their cognisance, and where +their judgment would, therefore, be more reliable +than that of men. It is this, that in the noise and +turmoil of party politics, or in the narrow, but +rancorous arena of local factions, it must needs +fare ill with what may be called the passive virtues +of humility, patience, meekness, forbearance, +and self-repression. These are looked on by the +Church as the special prerogative and endowment +of the female soul ... But these virtues would +soon become sullied and tarnished in the dust +and turmoil of a contested election; and their +absence would soon be disagreeably in evidence +in the character of women, who are, at the same +<a name="Page_119"></a>time, almost constitutionally debarred from +preeminence +in the more robust virtues for which +the soul of man is specially adapted."</p> +<p>Cardinal Gibbons, in a letter to the National +League for the Civic Education of Women—an +anti-suffrage organisation—said that "woman +suffrage, if realised, would be the death-blow of +domestic life and happiness" (Nov. 2, 1909).</p> +<p>Rev. William Humphrey, S.J., in his <i>Christian +Marriage</i>, chap. 16, remarks that woman is "the +subordinate equal of man"—whatever that means.</p> +<p>A few Roman Catholic prelates, like Cardinal +Moran, have advocated equal suffrage, but they +are in the minority. The Pope has not yet definitely +stated the position of the Church; individual +Catholics are free to take any side they wish, +as it is not a matter of faith; but the tendency of +Roman Catholicism is against votes for women.</p> +<br> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">SOURCES:</h4> +<p>I. Corpus Iuris Canonici: recognovit Aemilius Friedberg. +Lipsiae (Tauchnitz) Pars Prior, 1879. Pars Secunda, 1881.</p> +<p>II. Sacrosanctum Concilium Tridentinum, additis Declarationibus +Cardinalium, Concilii Interpretum, ex ultima recognitione +Joannis Gallemart, etc. Coloniae Agrippinae, apud +Franciscum Metternich, Bibliopolam. MDCCXXVII.</p> +<p>III. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York, Robert Appleton +Company. (Published with the <i>Imprimatur</i> of Archbishop +Parley.)</p> +<p>IV. Various articles by Catholic prelates, due references to +which are given as they occur.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366">[366]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Augustine quoted by Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 33, <i>Quaest</i>. 5, +chapters +12-16—Friedberg, i, pp. 1254, 1255. Ambrose and Jerome on +the same matter, ibid., <i>c</i>. 15 and 17, Friedberg, i, p. 1255. +Gratian, <i>Causa</i> 30, <i>Quaest</i>. 5, <i>c</i>. 7—Friedberg, +i, p. 1106: Feminae +dum maritantur, ideo velantur, ut noverint se semper viris suis +subditas esse et humiles.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367">[367]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Distinctio</i>, 30, <i>c</i>. 2—Friedberg, i, p. 107: +Quecumque +mulier, religioni iudicans convenire, comam sibi amputaverit +quam Deus ad velamen eius et ad memoriam subiectionis illi +dedit, tanquam resolvens ius subiectionis, anathema sit. Cf. +Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 15, <i>Quaest</i>. 3—Friedberg, i, p. 750.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368">[368]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Dist</i>., 30, <i>c</i>. 6, Friedberg, i, p. 108. See +also <i>Deuteronomy</i> +xxii, 5.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369">[369]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Dist</i>., 23, <i>c</i>. 29—Friedberg, i, p. 86: +Mulier, quamvis +docta et sancta, viros in conventu docere non praesumat.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370">[370]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., <i>Causa</i>, 15, <i>Quaest</i>. 3—Friedberg, i, p. 750.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371">[371]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., <i>Causa</i>, 20, <i>Quaest</i>. 1, <i>c</i>. 2—Friedberg, +i, pp. 843-844, +quoting Gregory to Augustine, the Bishop of the Angles: Addidistis +adhuc, quod si pater vel mater filium filiamve intra septa +monasterii in infantiae annis sub regulari tradiderunt disciplina, +utrum liceat eis, postquam ad pubertatis inoleverint annos, +egredi, et matrimonio copulari. Hoe omnino devitamus, quia +nefas est ut oblatis a parentibus Deo filiis voluptatis frena +relaxentur. +Id., <i>c</i>. 4—Fried., i, p. 844: quoting Isidore—quicumque +a parentibus propriis in monasterio fuerit delegatus, noverit se +ibi perpetuo mansurum. Nam Anna Samuel puerum suum +natum et ablactatum Deo pietate obtulit. Id., <i>c</i>. 7—Fried., i, +pp. 844-845.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372">[372]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Dist</i>., 27, <i>c</i>. 4 et 9, and <i>Dist</i>., +28, <i>c</i>. 12—Friedberg, i, +pp. 99 and 104. Id., <i>Causa</i>, 27, <i>Quaest</i>. 1, <i>c</i>. 1 +and 7—Friedberg, +i, pp. 1047 and 1O50.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373">[373]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 20, <i>Quaest</i>. 2, <i>c</i>. +2—Friedberg, i, pp. 847-848.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374">[374]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Cf. Council of Trent, Session 24, "On the Sacrament of +Matrimony," <i>Canon</i> 6: "If anyone shall say that matrimony +contracted but not consummated is not dissolved by the solemn +profession of religion by one of the parties married: let him be +anathema." +</p> +<p>Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 27, <i>Quaest</i>. ii, <i>c</i>. +28—Fried., i, p. 1071. Id., <i>c</i>. +46, 47, 50, 51—Fried., i, pp. 1076, 1077, 1078.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375">[375]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 30, <i>Quaest</i>. 2—Fried., i, p. 1100: +Ubi non est +consensus utriusque, non est coniugium. Ergo qui pueris dant +puellas in cunabulis et e converso, nihil faciunt, nisi uterque +puerorum postquam venerit ad tempus discretionis consentiat, +etiamsi pater et mater hoc fecerint et voluerint. Id. <i>Causa</i>, +31, +<i>Quaest</i>. 2—Fried., i, 1112-1114: sine libera voluntate nulla est +copulanda alicui.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376">[376]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 30, <i>Quaest</i>. 5, <i>c</i>. +6—Friedberg, i, p. 1106: Nullum +sine dote fiat coniugium; iuxta possibilitatem fiat dos, nee +sine publicis nuptiis quisquam nubere vel uxorem ducere praesumat.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377">[377]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 30, <i>Quaest</i>. 5, <i>c</i>. +4—Friedberg, i, p. 1105.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378">[378]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 30, <i>Quaest</i>. 5, <i>c</i>. +7—Friedberg, i, p. 1106.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379">[379]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., <i>c</i>. 1—Friedberg, i, p. 1104.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380">[380]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., <i>c</i>. 8—Friedberg, i, p. 1107.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381">[381]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 30, <i>Quaest</i>. 5, <i>c</i>. +9—Friedberg, i, p. 1107.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382">[382]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa, </i>28,<i> Quaest</i>. i, <i>c</i>. +17—Friedberg, i, +p. 1089: illorum +vero coniugia, qui contemptis omnibus illis solempnitatibus +solo affectu aliquam sibi in coniugem copulant, huiuscemodi +coniugium non legitimum, sed ratum tantummodo esse creditur.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383">[383]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Sessio xxiv, cap. i—De Reformatione Matrimonii.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384">[384]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See Gratian, <i>Dist</i>., v, <i>c</i>. 4—Friedberg, i, p. 8, +e.g., ... +ita ut morte lex sacra feriat, si quis vir ad menstruam mulierem +accedat.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385">[385]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Dist</i>., 31, <i>c</i>. 11—Friedberg, i, p. 114.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386">[386]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i>, 27, <i>Quaest</i>. 2, <i>c</i>. 18-22, +and 24-26—Friedberg +i, pp. 1067-1070.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387">[387]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Dist</i>., 34, c. 4—Friedberg, i, p. 126. Id., <i>Causa</i>, +29, +<i>Quaest</i>. 1—Friedberg, i, p. 1092. Id., <i>Causa</i>, 29, <i>Quaest</i>. +2, c. 2.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388">[388]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Id., <i>Causa</i>, 29, <i>Quaest</i>. 2, c. 1 and 8.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389">[389]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> "Divorce," by James Cardinal Gibbons, in the <i>Century</i>, +May, 1909.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390">[390]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For this and what immediately follows see <i>Session</i> 24 of +the Council of Trent "On the Sacrament of Matrimony" and +also the Catholic Encyclopedia under "Divorce."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391">[391]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Gratian, <i>Causa</i> 28, <i>Quaest</i>. i, c. 5—Friedberg, i, +pp. 1080-1081. +Licite dimittitur uxor que virum suum cogere querit ad malum. +Idolatria, quam secuntur infideles, et quelibet noxia superstitio +fornicatio est. Dominus autem permisit causa fornicationis +uxorem dimitti. Sed quia dimisit et non iussit, dedit Apostolo +locum monendi, ut qui voluerit non dimittat uxorem infidelem, +quo sic fortassis possit fidelis fieri. Si infidelitas fornicatio est, +et idolatria infidelitas, et avaritia idolatria, non est dubitandum +et avaritiam fornicationem esse. Quis ergo iam quamlibet +illicitam concupiscentiam potest recte a fornicationis genere +separate, si avaritia fornicatio est?</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392">[392]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Friedberg, ii, pp. 782 and 783: Quum enim secundum legitimas +sanctiones, etc. +</p> +<p>Lea, in his <i>History of Confession and Indulgences</i>, ii, p. +87, +quotes Zanchini, <i>Tract. de Haeret., cap. 33</i>, to the effect that +goods of a heretic were confiscated and disabilities inflicted on +two generations of descendants.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_120"></a>CHAPTER VII<br> +</h2> +<h2>HISTORY OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN ENGLAND</h2> +<p>Since I have now given a brief summary of +the canon law, which until the Reformation +marked the general principles that guided the +laws of all Europe on the subject of women, I +propose next to consider more particularly the +history of women's rights in England; for the +institutions of England, being the basis of our +own, will necessarily be more pertinent to us than +those of Continental countries, to which I shall +not devote more than a passing comment here and +there. My inquiry will naturally fall into certain +well-defined parts. The status of the unmarried +woman is different from that of her married sister +and will, accordingly, demand separate consideration. +The rights of women, again, are to be +viewed both from the legal and the social standpoint. +Their legal rights include those of a +private nature, such as the disposal of property, +and public rights, such as suffrage, sitting on a +jury, or holding office. Under social rights are +included the right to an education, to earn a living, +and the like. Let us glance first at the history of +the legal rights of single women.</p> +<p><a name="Page_121"></a></p> +<div class="sidenote">Single women: Pollock and Maitland +i, pp. 482-485.</div> +<p>From very early times the law has continued +to put the single woman of mature age on practically +a par with men so far as private single +rights are concerned. She could hold +land, make a will or contract, could sue +and be sued, all of her own initiative; she +needed no guardian. She could herself, if a widow, +be guardian of her own children.</p> +<div class="sidenote">Pollock and Maitland, ii, 260-313. Blackstone, +ii, ch. +13.</div> +<p>In the case of +inheritance, however, women have to +within extremely recent times been +treated less generously than men. The +male sex has been preferred in an inheritance; +males excluded females of equal degree; +or, in the words of Blackstone: "In collateral +inheritances the male stock shall be preferred to +the female; that is, kindred derived from the +blood of the male ancestors, however remote, +shall be admitted before those from the blood of +the female, however near; unless where the lands +have, in fact, descended from a female. Thus the +relations on the father's side are admitted <i>in +infinitum</i> before those on the mother's side are +admitted at all." Blackstone justly remarks +that this harsh enactment of the laws of England +was quite unknown to the Roman law "wherein +brethren and sisters were allowed to succeed to +equal portions of the inheritance." As an example, +suppose we look for the heir of John Stiles, +deceased. The order of succession would be:</p> +<p>I. The eldest son, Matthew Stiles, or his issue.</p> +<p>II. If his line is extinct, then Gilbert Stiles +<a name="Page_122"></a>and the other sons, respectively, in order of +birth, +or their issue.</p> +<p>III. In default of these, all the daughters together, +Margarite and Charlotte Stiles, or their +issue.</p> +<p>IV. On the failure of the descendants of +John Stiles himself, the issue of Geoffrey and Lucy +Stiles, his parents, is called in, viz.: first, Francis +Stiles, the eldest brother of the whole blood, or +his issue.</p> +<p>V. Then Oliver Stiles, and the other whole +brothers, respectively, in order of birth, or their +issue.</p> +<p>VI. Then the sisters of the whole blood all +together, Bridget and Alice Stiles, or their issue.</p> +<p>And so on. It will be noted that females of +equal degree inherited together; and that a +daughter excluded a brother of the dead man. +Men themselves, if younger sons, have suffered +what seems to us a grave injustice in the prevalence +of the right of primogeniture, whereby, if +there are two or more males in equal degree, the +eldest only can inherit. This law might work for +the benefit of certain females; thus, the daughter, +granddaughter, or great-granddaughter of an eldest +son will succeed before the younger son.</p> +<p>To public rights, such as sitting on a jury<a name="FNanchor_393"></a><a + href="#Footnote_393"><sup>[393]</sup></a> or +<a name="Page_123"></a>holding offices of state, women never were +admitted; +that is a question that has become +prominent only in the twentieth century and will +demand consideration in its proper place.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Power of Parents.</div> +<p>Unlike the Roman law, English law allows +parents to disinherit children completely, if they so +desire, without being under any compulsion +to leave them a part of their goods. +As to legal power over children, the mother, +as such, is entitled to none, says Blackstone,<a name="FNanchor_394"></a><a + href="#Footnote_394"><sup>[394]</sup></a> +but only to reverence and respect. Now, however, +by the statute 2 and 3 Vict., c. 54, commonly +called <i>Talfourd's Act</i>, an order may be made on +petition to the court of chancery giving mothers +access to their children and, if such children are +within the age of seven years, for delivery of them +to their mother until they attain that age. But +no woman who has been convicted of adultery is +entitled to the benefit of the act. The father +has legal power up to the time when his children +come of age; then it ceases. Until that time, +his consent is necessary to a valid marriage; he +may receive the profit of a child's estate, but only +as guardian or trustee, and must render an account +when the child attains his majority; and he may +have the benefit of his children's labour while they +live with him.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Husband and wife. Pollock and Maitland, ii, +399-436. +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Blackstone, i, ch 15. Bryce, pp. +818-830.</div> +<p><a name="Page_124"></a>We are ready now to observe the status of +women in marriage. The question of their legal +rights in this relation offers the most +illuminating insight into their conditions +in the various epochs of history. +Matrimony is a state over which the +Church has always asserted special jurisdiction. +By the middle of the twelfth +century it was law in England that to it belonged +this prerogative. The ecclesiastical court, for +example, pronounced in a given case whether +there had been a valid marriage or not; the temporal +court took this decision as one of the bases +for determining a matter of inheritance, whether +a woman was entitled to dower, and the like. The +general precepts laid down by canon law in the +case of a wife have already been noted. These +rules need now to be supplemented by an account +of the position of women in marriage under the +common law.</p> +<p>Under the older common law the husband was +very much lord of all he surveyed and even +more. An old enactment thus describes a husband's +duty<a name="FNanchor_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395"><sup>[395]</sup></a>: +"He shall treat and <i>govern</i> the +aforesaid A well and decently, and shall not inflict +nor cause to be inflicted any injury upon the +aforesaid A except in so far as he may lawfully +<a name="Page_125"></a>and reasonably do so in accordance with <i>the +right of a husband to correct and chastise his wife</i>." +Blackstone, who wrote in 1763, has this to say on +the husband's power to chastise his wife: "The +husband also, by the old law, might give his wife +moderate correction. For, as he is to answer for +her misbehaviour, the law thought it reasonable to +intrust him with this power of restraining her, +by domestic chastisement, in the same moderation +that a man is allowed to correct his apprentices or +children, for whom the master or parent is also +liable in some cases to answer. But this power +of correction was confined within reasonable +bounds, and the husband was prohibited from +using any violence to his wife <i>aliter quam ad, +virum, ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris +suae, licite et rationabiliter pertinet</i>.<a name="FNanchor_396"></a><a + href="#Footnote_396"><sup>[396]</sup></a> The civil law +gave the husband the same, or a larger, authority +over his wife; allowing him for some misdemeanours +<i>flagellis et fustibus acriter verberare uxorem</i> [to give +his wife a severe beating with whips and clubs]; +for others, only <i>modicam castigationem adhibere</i> +[to apply moderate correction]. But with us +in the politer reign of Charles the Second, this +power of correction began to be doubted; and a +wife may now have security of the peace against +her husband, or, in return, a husband against his +wife. Yet the lower rank of people, who were +always fond of the old common law, still claim and +<a name="Page_126"></a>exert their ancient privilege; and the courts of +law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife +of her liberty, in case of any gross misbehaviour." +Doubtless what Mr. Weller, Sr., describes as the +"amiable weakness" of wife-beating was not +necessarily confined to the "lower rank." For +instance, some of the courtly gentlemen of the +reign of Queen Anne were probably not averse to +exercising their old-time prerogative. Says Sir +Richard Steele (<i>Spectator</i>, 479): "I can not deny +but there are Perverse Jades that fall to Men's +Lots, with whom it requires more than common +Proficiency in Philosophy to be able to live. +When these are joined to men of warm Spirits, +without Temper or Learning, they are frequently +corrected with Stripes; but one of our famous +Lawyers is of opinion, That this ought to be used +sparingly." The law was, indeed, even worse than +might appear from the words of Blackstone. The +wife who feared unreasonable violence could, to be +sure, bind her husband to keep the peace; but she +had no action against him. A husband who +killed his wife was guilty of murder, but the wife +who slew her husband was adjudged guilty of +petty treason; and whereas the man would be +merely drawn and hanged, the woman, until +the reign of George III, was drawn and burnt +alive.<a name="FNanchor_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397"><sup>[397]</sup></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_127"></a>The right of a husband to restrain a wife's +liberty +may not be said to have become completely +obsolete until the case of <i>Reg. v. Jackson in 1891</i>.<a + name="FNanchor_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398"><sup>[398]</sup></a> +Wife-beating is still a flagrantly common offence +in England.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Wife's property in marriage.</div> +<p>Turning now to the question of the wife's +property in marriage, we shall be forced to believe +that Blackstone was an optimist of +unusual magnitude when he wrote that +the female sex was "so great a favourite +of the laws of England." Not to weary the reader +by minute details, I cannot do better than give +Messrs. Pollock and Maitland's excellent summary +of the final shape taken by the common law— +a glaring piece of injustice, worthy of careful +reading, and in complete accord with Apostolic +injunctions: "<span style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span> In the lands +of which the wife is +tenant in fee, whether they belonged to her at the +date of the marriage or came to her during the +marriage, the husband has an estate which will +endure during the marriage, and this he can +alienate without her concurrence. If a child is +born of the marriage, thenceforth the husband +as 'tenant by courtesy' has an estate which will +<a name="Page_128"></a>endure for the whole of his life, and this he +can +alienate without the wife's concurrence. The +husband by himself has no greater power of +alienation than is here stated; he cannot confer +an estate which will endure after the end of the +marriage or (as the case may be) after his own +death. The wife has during the marriage no +power to alienate her land without her husband's +concurrence. The only process by which the fee +can be alienated is a <i>fine</i> to which both husband +and wife are parties and to which she gives her +assent after a separate examination.</p> +<p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> A widow is entitled to +enjoy for her life +under the name of dower one third of any land +of which the husband was seised in fee at any time +during the marriage. The result of this is that +during the marriage the husband cannot alienate +his own land so as to bar his wife's right of dower, +unless this is done with her concurrence, and her +concurrence is ineffectual unless the conveyance +is made by <i>fine</i>." [This inconvenience for an unscrupulous +husband was evaded in modern conveyancy +by a device of extreme ingenuity finally +perfected only in the eighteenth century. Professor +James Bryce remarks (p. 820): "As this +right (i.e., the right of dower) interfered with the +husband's power of freely disposing of his own +land, the lawyers at once set about to find means +of evading it, and found these partly in legal processes +by which the wife, her consent being ascertained +by the courts, parted with her right, partly +<a name="Page_129"></a>by an ingenious device whereby lands could be +conveyed to a husband without the right of dower +attaching to them, partly by giving the wife a +so-called jointure which barred her claim."]</p> +<p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span> Our law institutes no +community, even +of movables, between husband and wife. Whatever +movables the wife has at the date of the +marriage become the husband's, and the husband +is entitled to take possession of and thereby to make +his own whatever movables she becomes entitled +to during the marriage, and without her concurrence +he can sue for all debts that are due her. +On his death, however, she becomes entitled to all +movables and debts that are outstanding, or (as +the phrase goes) have not been 'reduced into possession.' +What the husband gets possession of is +simply his; he can freely dispose of it <i>inter vivos</i> +or by will. In the main, for this purpose as for +other purposes, a 'term of years' is treated as a +chattel, but under an exceptional rule the husband, +though he can alienate his wife's 'chattel real' +<i>inter vivos</i>, cannot dispose of it by his will. If he +has not alienated it <i>inter vivos</i>, it will be hers if she +survives him. If he survives her, he is entitled to +her 'chattels real' and is also entitled to be made +the administrator of her estate. In that capacity +he has a right to whatever movables or debts have +not yet been 'reduced into possession' and, when +the debts have been paid, he keeps these goods as +his own. If she dies in his lifetime, she can have +no other intestate successor. Without his consent +<a name="Page_130"></a>she can make no will, and any consent that he +may have given is revocable at any time before +the will is proved.</p> +<p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">IV.</span> Our common law—but we +have seen +that this rule is not very old—assured no share of +the husband's personality to the widow. He can, +even by his will, give all of it away from her except +her necessary clothes, and with that exception his +creditors can take all of it. A further exception, +of which there is not much to be read, is made +of jewels, trinkets, and ornaments of the person, +under the name of paraphernalia. The husband +may sell or give these away in his lifetime, and even +after his death they may be taken for his debts; +but he cannot give them away by will. If the +husband dies during the wife's life and dies intestate +she is entitled to a third, or, if there be no living +descendant of the husband, to one half of his +personality [but see the note of Bryce, above]. +But this is a case of pure intestate succession; she +only has a share of what is left after payment of +her husband's debts.</p> +<p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">V.</span> During the marriage the +husband is in +effect liable to the whole extent of his property for +debts incurred or wrongs committed by his wife +before the marriage, also for wrongs committed +during the marriage. The action is against him +and her as co-defendants. If the marriage is +dissolved by his death, she is liable, his estate is +not. If the marriage is dissolved by her death, +he is liable as her administrator, but only to the +<a name="Page_131"></a>extent of the property which he takes in that +character." [Mr. Ashton, in his very interesting +book, p. 31, quotes a peculiar note from a Parish +Register in the reign of Queen Anne to this effect: +"John Bridmore and Anne Sellwood, both of +Chiltern all Saints, were married October 17, 1714. +The aforesaid Anne Sellwood was married in her +Smock, without any clothes or headgier on." +"This is not uncommon," remarks Mr. Ashton, +"the object being, according to a vulgar error, to +exempt the husband from the payment of any +debts his wife may have contracted in her ante-nuptial +condition. This error seems to have +been founded on a misconception of the law, as it +is laid down 'the husband is liable for the wife's +debts, because he acquires an absolute interest in +the personal estate of his wife.' An unlearned +person from this might conclude, and not unreasonably, +that if his wife had no estate whatever +he could not incur any liability."]</p> +<p>"<span style="font-weight: bold;">VI.</span> During the marriage the +wife cannot +contract on her own behalf. She can contract as +her husband's agent and has a certain power of +pledging his credit in the purchase of necessaries. +At the end of the Middle Ages it is very doubtful +how far this power is to be explained by an +'implied agency.' The tendency of more recent +times has been to allow her no power that cannot +be thus explained, except in the exceptional case +of desertion."</p> +<p>A perusal of these laws shows that they are +<a name="Page_132"></a>immensely inferior to the Roman law, which not +only gave the wife full control of her property, +but protected her from coercion and bullying on +the part of the husband. The amendment of these +injustices has been very recent indeed. Successive +statutes in 1870, 1874, and 1882<a name="FNanchor_399"></a><a + href="#Footnote_399"><sup>[399]</sup></a> finally abrogated +the law which gave the husband full ownership of +his wife's property by the mere act of marriage. +Beginning with the year 1857, too, enlightenment +in England had progressed to such a remarkable +degree that certain acts were passed forbidding +a husband to seize his wife's earnings and neglect +her<a name="FNanchor_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400"><sup>[400]</sup></a>; +and she was actually allowed to keep her +own wages after the desertion of her lord. Before +that time he might desert his wife repeatedly, +and return from time to time to take away her +earnings and sell everything she had acquired. +An act in 1886 (<i>49 and 50 Vict., c. 52</i>) gave magistrates +the power to order a husband to pay his +wife a weekly sum, not exceeding two pounds, for +her support and that of the children if it appeared +to the magistrates that the deserting husband had +<a name="Page_133"></a>the means of maintaining her, but was unwilling +to do so. Still, the husband can at any time +terminate his desertion and force his wife to take +him back on penalty of losing all rights to such +maintenance. There was frantic opposition to +all of these revolutionary enactments and many +prophets arose crying woe; but the acts finally +passed and England still lives.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Divorce. Authorities as above; and Howard, ii, +3-117.</div> +<p>Until the Reformation divorce was regulated +by the canon law in accordance with the principles +which I have explained. After the +Reformation the matter at once assumed +a different aspect because all Protestants +agreed in denying that marriage is a +sacrament. Scotland in this as in other respects +has been more liberal than England; as early as +1573 desertion as well as adultery had become +grounds for divorce. But in England the force of +the canon law continued. In Blackstone's day +there were still, as under the canon law, only +two kinds of separation. Complete dissolution +of the marriage tie (<i>a vinculo matrimonii</i>) took +place only on a declaration of the Ecclesiastical +Court that on account of some canonical impediment, +like consanguinity, the marriage was +null and void from the beginning. Separation +"from bed and board" (<i>a mensa et thoro</i>) simply +gave the parties permission no longer to live +together and was allowed for adultery or some +other grave offences, like intolerable cruelty or +a chronic disease. However, some time before +<a name="Page_134"></a>Blackstone's day it had become the habit to get +a dissolution of marriage <i>a vinculo matrimonii</i> for +adultery by Act of Parliament; but the legal process +was so tedious, minute, and expensive that only +the very rich could afford the luxury.<a name="FNanchor_401"></a><a + href="#Footnote_401"><sup>[401]</sup></a> In the case +of a separation <i>a mensa et thoro</i> alimony was allowed +the wife for her support out of her husband's estate +at the discretion of the ecclesiastical judges.</p> +<p>The initiative in divorce by Act of Parliament +was usually taken by the husband; not until 1801 +did a woman have the temerity so to assert her +rights. The fact is, ever since the dawn of history +society has, with its usual double standard of +morality for men and women, insisted that while +the husband must never tolerate infidelity on the +part of the wife, the wife should bear with meekness +the adulteries of her husband. Plutarch +in his <i>Conjugal Precepts</i> so advises a wife; and this +pious frame of mind has continued down the +centuries to the present day. Devout old Jeremy +Taylor in his <i>Holy Living</i>—a book which is read +by few, but praised by many—thus counsels the +suffering wife<a name="FNanchor_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402"><sup>[402]</sup></a>: +"But if, after all the fair deportments +and innocent chaste compliances, the husband +be morose and ungentle, let the wife discourse +thus: 'If, while I do my duty, my husband +neglects me, what will he do if I neglect him?' +And if she thinks to be separated by reason of her +<a name="Page_135"></a>husband's unchaste life, let her consider that +the +man will be incurably ruined, and her rivals +could wish nothing more than that they might +possess him alone." Dr. Samuel Johnson ably +seconded the holy Jeremy's advice by declaring +that there is a boundless difference between the +infidelity of the man and that of the woman. In +the husband's case "the man imposes no bastards +upon his wife." Therefore, "wise married women +don't trouble themselves about infidelity in their +husbands."<a name="FNanchor_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403"><sup>[403]</sup></a> +Until very recent times not only men +but also women have been unanimous in counselling +abject submission to and humble adoration of +the husband. A single example out of hundreds +will serve excellently as a pattern. In 1821 a +"Lady of Distinction" writes to a "Relation +Shortly after Her Marriage" as follows<a name="FNanchor_404"></a><a + href="#Footnote_404"><sup>[404]</sup></a>: "The +most perfect and implicit faith in the superiority +of a husband's judgment, and the most absolute +obedience to his desires, is not only the conduct +that will insure the greatest success, but will give +the most entire satisfaction. It will take from +you a thousand cares, which would have answered +to no purpose; it will relieve you from a weight of +thought that would be very painful, and in no +way profitable.... It has its origin in reason, +<a name="Page_136"></a>in justice, in nature, and in the law of God.... +I have told you how you may, and how people +who are married do, get a likeness of countenance; +and in that I have done it. You will understand +me, that by often looking at your husband's face, +by smiling on the occasions on which he does, by +frowning on those things which make him frown, +and by viewing all things in the light in which you +perceive he does, you will acquire that likeness of +countenance which it is an honour to possess, because +it is a testimony of love.... When your +temper and your thoughts are formed upon those +of your husband, according to the plan which I have +laid down, you will perceive that you have no will, +no pleasure, but what is also his. This is the +character the wife of prudence would be apt to +assume; she would make herself the mirror, to show, +unaltered, and without aggravation, diminution, +or distortion, the thoughts, the sentiments, and +the resolutions of her husband. She would have +no particular design, no opinion, no thought, no +passion, no approbation, no dislike, but what +should be conformable to his own judgment ... +I would have her judgment seem the reflecting +mirror to his determination; and her form the +shadow of his body, conforming itself to his +several positions, and following it in all its movements ... +I would not have you silent; nay, +when trifles are the subject, talk as much as any +of them; but distinguish when the discourse turns +upon things of importance."</p> +<p><a name="Page_137"></a>It is not strange, therefore, that no woman +protested publicly against a husband's infidelity +until 1801. Up to 1840 there were but three cases +of a woman's taking the initiative in divorce, +namely, in 1801, 1831, and 1840; and in each case +the man's adultery was aggravated by other +offences. In two other suits the Lords rejected +the petition of the wife, although the misconduct +of the husband was clearly proved. But redress +was still by the elaborate machinery of Act of +Parliament and hence a luxury only for the +wealthy until 1857, when a special Court for +Divorce and Matrimonial Causes was established.<a name="FNanchor_405"></a><a + href="#Footnote_405"><sup>[405]</sup></a> +Nevertheless, the law as it stands to-day is not of +a character to excite admiration or to prove the +existence of the proverbial "British Fair Play." +A husband can obtain a divorce upon proof of his +wife's infidelity; but the wife can get it only by +proving, in addition to the husband's adultery, +either that it was aggravated by bigamy or incest +or that it was accompanied by cruelty or by two +years' desertion. Misconduct by the husband +bars him from obtaining a divorce. The court is +empowered to regulate at its discretion the property +rights of divorced people and the custody of +the children.<a name="FNanchor_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406"><sup>[406]</sup></a> +All attempts have failed to make the +law recognise that the misconduct of the husband +shall be regarded equally as culpable as the wife's.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Rape and the age of legal consent.</div> +<p><a name="Page_138"></a>We may pause a moment to glance at the +provisions made by the criminal law for protecting +women. The offence that most closely +touches women is rape. The punishment +of this in Blackstone's day was +death<a name="FNanchor_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407"><sup>[407]</sup></a>; +but in the next century the death penalty +was repealed and transportation for life substituted.<a + name="FNanchor_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408"><sup>[408]</sup></a> +The saddest blot on a presumably +Christian civilisation connected with this matter +is the so-called "age of legal consent." Under the +older Common Law this was <i>ten</i> or <i>twelve;</i> in 1885 +it was <i>thirteen</i>, at which period a girl was supposed +to be at an age to know what she was doing. But +in the year 1885 Mr. Stead told the London public +very plainly those hideous truths about crimes +against young girls which everybody knew very +well had been going on for centuries, but which +no one ever before had dared to assert. The +result was that Parliament raised the "age of +legal consent" to sixteen, where it now stands.<a name="FNanchor_409"></a><a + href="#Footnote_409"><sup>[409]</sup></a> +<a name="Page_139"></a>The idea that any girl of this age is +sufficiently +mature to know what she is doing by consenting +to the lust of scoundrels is a fine commentary on +the acuteness of the legal intellect and the high +moral convictions of legislators.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women's rights to an education.</div> +<p>The rights of women to a higher education is +distinctly a movement of the last half of the nineteenth +century. It is true that throughout +history there are many examples +of remarkably well-educated women—Lady +Jane Grey, for example, or Queen Elizabeth, +or Olympia Morata, in Italy, she who in the golden +period of the Renaissance became a professor at +sixteen and wrote dialogues in Greek after the +manner of Plato. But on looking closely into these +instances we shall find first that these ladies were +of noble rank and only thanks to their lofty position +had access to knowledge; and secondly that +they stand out as isolated cases—the great masses +of women never dreamed beyond the traditional +Kleider, Küche, Kinder, and Kirche. That an +elementary education, consisting of reading, writing, +and simple arithmetic, was offered them +freely by hospital, monastery, and the like +schools even as early as Chaucer—this we know; +nevertheless, beyond that they were not supposed +to aspire. So very recently, indeed, have women +<a name="Page_140"></a>secured the rights to a higher education that +many thousands to-day can easily recall the +intensely bitter attacks which were directed +against colleges like Wellesley and Bryn Mawr in +their inception. Until the middle of the nineteenth +century the whole education—what there +was of it—of a girl was arranged primarily with a +view to capture a husband and, once having him +secure, to be his loving slave, to dwell with adoring +rapture on his superior learning, and to be humbly +grateful if her liege deigned from time to time to +throw his spouse some scraps of knowledge which +might be safely administered without danger of +making her think for herself. These facts no one +can well deny; but a few instances of prevalent +opinion, in addition to those which I have already +quoted, will afford the amusement of concrete +examples.</p> +<p>Mrs. Chapone, in the eighteenth century, +advised her niece to avoid the study of classics +and science lest she "excite envy in one sex and +jealousy in the other." Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu laments thus: "There is hardly a +creature in the world more despicable and more +liable to universal ridicule than a learned woman," +and "folly is reckoned so much our proper sphere, +we are sooner pardoned any excesses of that than +the least pretensions to reading and good sense." +Pursuant to the prevailing sentiment on the +education of women, the subjects which they +studied and the books which they were allowed +<a name="Page_141"></a>to read were carefully regulated. As to their +reading, it was confined to romantic tales whereof +the exceeding insipidity could not awaken any +symptom of intelligence. Lyly dedicated his +<i>Euphues</i> to the "Ladies and Gentlewomen of +England" and Sidney's <i>Arcadia</i> owed its vast +success to its female readers.</p> +<p>The subjects studied followed the orthodox +views. Beginning with the reign of Queen Anne +boarding-schools for girls became very numerous. +At these schools "young Gentlewomen" were +"soberly educated" and "taught all sorts of +learning fit for young Gentlewomen." The +"learning fit for young Gentlewomen" comprised +"the Needle, Dancing, and the French tongue; a +little Music on the Harpsichord or Spinet, to read, +write, and cast accounts in a small way." Dancing +was the all-important study, since this was +the surest route to their Promised Land, matrimony. +The study of French consisted in learning +parrot-like a modicum of that language pronounced +according to the fancy of the speaker. As, however, +the young beau probably did not know any +more himself, the end justified the means. Studies +like history, when pursued, were taken in homoeopathic +doses from small compendiums; and it was +adequate to know that Charlemagne lived somewhere +in Europe about a thousand or so years ago. +Yet even this was rather advanced work and +exposed the woman to be damned by the report +that she was educated. Ability to cook was not +<a name="Page_142"></a>despised and pastry schools were not uncommon. +Thus in the time of Queen Anne appears this: +"To all Young Ladies: at Edw. Kidder's Pastry +School in little Lincoln's Inn Fields are taught all +Sorts of Pastry and Cookery, Dutch hollow works, +and Butter Works," etc.</p> +<p>At last in the first decades of the nineteenth +century the civilised world began slowly to take +some thought of women's higher education and +to wake up to the fact that because a certain +system has been in vogue since created man does +not necessarily mean that it is the right one; a +very heretical and revolutionary idea, which has +always been and still is ably opposed by that great +host of people who have steadily maintained that +when men and women once begin to think for +themselves society must inevitably run to ruin. +In 1843 there was established a certain Governesses' +Benevolent Institution. This was in its inception +a society to afford relief to governesses, i.e., +women engaged in tutoring, who might be temporarily +in straits, and to raise annuities for those +who were past doing work. Obviously this would +suggest the question of what a competent governess +was; and this in turn led to the demand for a +diploma as a warrant of efficiency. That called +attention to the extreme ignorance of the members +of the profession; and it was soon felt that classes +of instruction were needed. A sum of money +was accordingly collected in 1846 and given +the Institution for that purpose. Some eminent +<a name="Page_143"></a>professors of King's College volunteered to +lecture; +and so, on a small scale to be sure, began what +is now Queen's College, the first college for women +in England, incorporated by Royal Charter in +1853. In 1849 Bedford College for women had +been founded in London through the unselfish +labours of Mrs. Reid; but it did not receive its +charter until 1869. Within a decade Cheltenham, +Girton, Newnham, and other colleges for women +had arisen. Eight of the ten men's universities +of Great Britain now allow examinations and +degrees to women also; Oxford and Cambridge +do not.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women in the professions.</div> +<p>Since then women's right to any higher education +which they may wish to embrace has been +permanently assured. As early as 1868 +Edinburgh opened its courses in pharmacy +to women. In 1895 there were already +264 duly qualified female physicians in Great +Britain. In many schools they are allowed to +study with men, as at the College of Physicians +and Surgeons at Edinburgh; there are four medical +schools for women only. We find women now +actively engaged in agriculture, apiculture, poultry-keeping, +horticulture; in library work and indexing; +in stenography; in all trades and professions. +The year 1893 witnessed the first appointment of +women as factory inspectors, two being chosen +that year in London and in Glasgow. Nottingham +had chosen women as sanitary inspectors in +1892. Thus in about two decades woman has +<a name="Page_144"></a>advanced farther than in the combined ages which +preceded. Before these very modern movements +we may say that the stage was the only +profession which had offered them any opportunity +of earning their living in a dignified way. It +seems that a Mrs. Coleman, in 1656, was the +first female to act on the stage in England; before +that, all female parts had been taken by boys +or young men. A Mrs. Sanderson played Desdemona +in 1660 at the Clare Market Theatre. In +1661, as we may see from Pepys' <i>Diary</i> (Feb. 12, +1661), an actress was still a novelty; but within +a few decades there were already many famous +ones.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Woman suffrage in England</div> +<p>We have seen that now woman has obtained +practically all rights on a par with men. There +are still grave injustices, as in divorce; +but the battle is substantially won. One +right still remains for her to win, the +right, namely, to vote, not merely on issues such +as education—this privilege she has had for some +time—but on all political questions; and connected +with this is the right to hold political office. We +may fittingly close this chapter by a review of the +history of the agitation for woman suffrage.</p> +<p>In the year 1797 Charles Fox remarked: "It +has never been suggested in all the theories and +projects of the most absurd speculation, that it +would be advisable to extend the elective suffrage +to the female sex." Yet five years before Mary +Wollstonecraft had published her <i>Vindication of +<a name="Page_145"></a>the Rights of Women</i>. Presently the writings +of +Harriet Martineau upon political economy proved +that women could really think on politics.</p> +<p>We may say that the general public first began +to think seriously on the matter after the epoch-making +Reform Act of 1832. This celebrated +measure admitted £10 householders to the right +to vote and carefully excluded females; yet it +marked a new era in the awakening of civic +consciousness: women had taken active part in the +attendant campaigns; and the very fact that +"male persons" needed now to be so specifically +designated in the bill, whereas hitherto "persons" +and "freeholders" had been deemed sufficient, +attests the recognition of a new factor in +political life.</p> +<p>In 1865 John Stuart Mill was elected to Parliament. +That able thinker had written on <i>The +Subjection of Women</i> and was ready to champion +their rights. A petition was prepared under the +direction of women like Mrs. Bodichon and Miss +Davies; and in 1867 Mill proposed in Parliament +that the word <i>man</i> be omitted from the People's +Bill and <i>person</i> substituted. The amendment +was rejected, 196 to 83.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, the agitation was continued. The +next year constitutional lawyers like Mr. Chisholm +Anstey decided that women might be legally +entitled to vote; and 5000 of them applied +to be registered. In a test case brought before the +Court of Common Pleas the verdict was adverse, +<a name="Page_146"></a>on the ground that it was contrary to usage for +women to vote. The fight went on. Mr. Jacob +Bright in 1870 introduced a "Bill to Remove the +Electoral Disabilities of Women" and lost. In +1884 Mr. William Woodall tried again; he lost +also, largely through the efforts of Gladstone; and +the same statesman was instrumental in killing +another bill in 1892, when Mr. A.J. Balfour urged +its passage.</p> +<p>At the present day women in England cannot +vote on great questions of universal state policy +nor can they hold great offices of state. Yet their +gains have been enormous, as I shall next demonstrate; +and in this connection I shall also +glance briefly at their vast strides in the colonies.</p> +<p>In 1850 Ontario gave all women school suffrage. +In 1867 New South Wales gave them municipal +suffrage. In 1869 England granted municipal +suffrage to single women and widows; Victoria +gave it to all women, married or single. In +England in 1870 the Education Act, by which +school boards were created, gave women the +same rights as men, both as regards electing and +being elected. In 1871 West Australia gave them +municipal suffrage; in 1878 New Zealand gave +school suffrage. In 1880 South Australia gave +municipal suffrage. In 1881 widows and single +women obtained municipal suffrage in Scotland +and Parliamentary suffrage on the Isle of Man. +Municipal suffrage was given by Ontario and +Tasmania in 1884 and by New Zealand and New +<a name="Page_147"></a>Brunswick in 1886; by Nova Scotia and Manitoba +in 1887. In 1888 England gave women county +suffrage and British Columbia and the North-West +Territory gave them municipal suffrage. In 1889 +county suffrage was given the women of Scotland +and municipal suffrage to single women and +widows in the Province of Quebec. In 1893 New +Zealand gave full suffrage. In 1894 parish and +district suffrage was given in England to women +married and single, with power to elect and to be +elected to parish and district councils. In 1895 +South Australia gave full state suffrage to all +women. In 1898 the women of Ireland were +given the right to vote for all officers except +members of Parliament. In 1900 West Australia +granted full state suffrage to all. In 1902 full +national suffrage was given all the women in +federated Australia and full state suffrage to those +of New South Wales. In 1903 Tasmania gave +full state suffrage; in 1905 Queensland did the +same; in 1908 Victoria followed. In 1907 England +made women eligible as mayors, aldermen, and +county and town councillors. In London, for example, +at the present time women can vote for +the 28 borough councils and 31 boards of guardians +of the London City Council; they can also be +themselves elected to these; be members of the +central unemployed body or of the 23 district +committees, and can be co-opted to all other +bodies, like the local pension committees. +Women can be aldermen of the Council; and there is +<a name="Page_148"></a>nothing to prevent one from holding even the +office of chairman.</p> +<p>At the present moment the cause of woman +suffrage in England is being furthered chiefly by +two organizations which differ in methods. The +National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies has +adopted the "constitutional" or peaceful policy; +but the National Women's Social and Political +Union is "militant" and coercive.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">SOURCES:</h4> +<p>I. The English Statutes. Published by Authority during +the Various Reigns.</p> +<p>II. Studies in History and Jurisprudence: by James Bryce. +Oxford University Press, 1901. Pages 782-859 on "Marriage +and Divorce."</p> +<p>III. History of English Law: by Frederick Pollock and +Frederic Maitland. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, +1898—second edition.</p> +<p>IV. Commentaries on the Laws of England: by Sir William +Blackstone. With notes selected from the editions of Archbold, +Christian, Coleridge, etc., and additional notes by George +Sharswood, of the University of Pennsylvania. 2 vols. Philadelphia, +1860—Childs and Peterson, 602 Arch Street.</p> +<p>V. A History of Matrimonial Institutions, chiefly in England +and the United States: by George Elliott Howard. 4 vols. The +University of Chicago Press, 1904.</p> +<p>VI. Social England: edited by H.D. Traill. 6 vols. G.P. +Putnam's Sons, 1901.</p> +<p>VII. Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, taken from +original sources: by John Ashton. London, Chatto and Windus, +1897.</p> +<p>VIII. The Renaissance of Girls' Education in England: by +Alice Zimmern. London, A.D. Innes and Co., 1898.</p> +<p>IX. Progress in Women's Education in the British Empire: +<a name="Page_149"></a>edited by the Countess of Warwick. Being the +Report of the +Education Section, Victorian Era Exhibition, 1897. Longmans, +Green, & Co., 1898.</p> +<p>X. Current Literature from the Earliest Times to the Present +Day, references to which are noted as they occur.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393">[393]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> If a woman sentenced to execution declared she was pregnant, +a jury of twelve matrons could be appointed on a writ +<i>de venire inspiciendo</i> to determine the truth of the matter; for +she could not be executed if the infant was alive in the womb. +The same jury determined the case of a widow who feigned herself +with child in order to exclude the next heir and when she +was suspected of trying to palm off a supposititious birth. But +from all other jury duties women have always been excluded +"on account of the weakness of the sex"—<i>propter defectum sexus</i>.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394">[394]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Blackstone, i, ch. 16.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395">[395]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Reg. Brev. Orig., f. 89: quod ipse praefatam A bene et honeste +tractabit et gubernabit, ac damnum vel malum aliquod eidem +A de corpore suo, aliter quam ad virum suum ex causa regiminis +et castigationis uxoris suae licite et rationabiliter pertinet, non +faciet nec fieri procurabit.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396">[396]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> "Except in so far as he may lawfully and reasonably do so +in order to correct and chastise his wife."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397">[397]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The learned commentator Christian adds a few more cases +where formerly the criminal law was harshly prejudiced against +women. Thus: "By the Common Law, all women were denied +the benefit of clergy; and till the 3 and 4 <i>W. and M</i>., c. 9 +[William +and Mary] they received sentence of death and might have been +executed for the first offence in simple larceny, bigamy, manslaughter, +etc., however learned they were, merely because their +sex precluded the possibility of their taking holy orders; though a +man who could read was for the same crime subject only to +burning in the hand and a few months' imprisonment."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398">[398]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> I Q.B. p. 671—in the Court of Appeal.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399">[399]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Married Women's Property Act</i>, 45 and 46 V., c. 75—Aug. +18, 1882.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400">[400]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Note this incident, from the <i>Westminister Review</i>, October, +1856: "A lady whose husband had been unsuccessful in business +established herself as a milliner in Manchester. After some +years of toil she realised sufficient for the family to live upon +comfortably, +the husband having done nothing meanwhile. They +lived for a time in easy circumstances after she gave up business +and then the husband died, <i>bequeathing all his wife's earnings to +his own illegitimate children</i>. At the age of 62 she was compelled, +in order to gain her bread, to return to business."</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401">[401]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> For a full account of the elaborate machinery see Chitty's +note to Blackstone, vol. i, p. 441, of Sharswood's edition.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402">[402]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>Holy Living, ch. 3, section I: Rules for Married Persons.</i></p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403">[403]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Boswell, vii, 288. Perhaps if the venerable Samuel had had +the statistics of venereal disease given by adulterous husbands +to wives and children he might not have been so sure of his +contention.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404">[404]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Quoted by Professor Thomas in the <i>American Magazine</i>, +July, 1909.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405">[405]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See 20 and 21 V., c. 85—Aug. 28. 1857.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406">[406]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See 7 Edw., c. 12—Aug. 9, 1907—Matrimonial Causes Act, +which also gives the court discretion in alimony.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407">[407]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Blackstone, iv, ch. 15.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408">[408]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> 4 <i>and</i> 5 <i>V., c.</i> 56, <i>s.</i> 3.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409">[409]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, 48 <i>and</i> 49 <i>V. c.</i> +69, section 5: "Any person who (1) unlawfully and carnally knows +or attempts to have unlawful carnal knowledge of any girl being +of or above the age of thirteen years and under the age of sixteen, +or (2) unlawfully and carnally knows or attempts to have carnal +knowledge of any female idiot or imbecile woman or girl under +circumstances which do not amount to rape, but which prove +that the offender knew at the time of the commission of the offence +that the woman or girl was an idiot or imbecile, shall be +guilty of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof shall be +liable at the discretion of the Court to be imprisoned for any +term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour." +Section 4: "Any one who unlawfully and carnally knows any +girl under the age of thirteen shall be guilty of felony, and being +convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for +life." Any one who merely attempts it can be imprisoned for +any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_150"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<h2>WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES</h2> +<p>It has been my aim, in this short history of the +growth of women's rights, to depict for the +most part the strictly legal aspect of the matter; +but from time to time I have interposed some +typical illustration of public opinion, in order to +bring into greater prominence the ferment that +was going on or the misery which existed behind +the scenes. A history of legal processes might +otherwise, from the coldness of the laws, give +few hints of the conflicts of human passion which +combined to set those processes in motion. Before +I present the history of the progress of women's +rights in the United States, I shall place before +the reader some extracts which are typical and +truly representative of the opposition which from +the beginning of the agitation to the present day +has voiced itself in all ranks of life. Let the +reader bear carefully in mind that from 1837 to the +beginning of the twentieth century such abuse +as that which I shall quote as typical was hurled +from ten thousand throats of men and women +unceasingly; that Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, +and Mrs. Gage were hissed, insulted, and offered +<a name="Page_151"></a>physical violence by mobs in New York<a + name="FNanchor_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410"><sup>[410]</sup></a> +and +Boston to an extent inconceivable in this age; and +that the marvellously unselfish labour of such +women as these whom I have mentioned and of +men like Wendell Phillips is alone responsible +for the improvement in the legal status of +women, which I propose to trace in detail. Some +expressions of the popular attitude follow:</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Examples of opposition to women's rights.</div> +<p>From a speech of the Rev. Knox-Little at the +Church of St. Clements in Philadelphia in 1880: +"God made himself to be born of a woman +to sanctify the virtue of endurance; +loving submission is an attribute of a +woman; men are logical, but women, +lacking this quality, have an intricacy of thought. +There are those who think women can be taught +logic; this is a mistake. They can never by any +power of education arrive at the same mental status +as that enjoyed by men, but they have a quickness +of apprehension, which is usually called leaping +at conclusions, that is astonishing. There, then, +we have distinctive traits of a woman, namely, +endurance, loving submission, and quickness of +apprehension. Wifehood is the crowning glory +of a woman. In it she is bound for all time. To +her husband she owes the duty of unqualified +obedience. There is no crime which a man can +commit which justifies his wife in leaving him or +<a name="Page_152"></a>applying for that monstrous thing, divorce. It +is +her duty to subject herself to him always, and no +crime that he can commit can justify her lack +of obedience. If he be a bad or wicked man, she +may gently remonstrate with him, but refuse him +never. Let divorce be anathema; curse it; curse +this accursed thing, divorce; curse it, curse it! +Think of the blessedness of having children. I am +the father of many children and there have been +those who have ventured to pity me. 'Keep your +pity for yourself,' I have replied, 'they never cost +me a single pang.' In this matter let woman +exercise that endurance and loving submission +which, with intricacy of thought, are their only +characteristics."</p> +<p>From the Philadelphia <i>Public Ledger and Daily +Transcript</i>, July 20, 1848: "Our Philadelphia ladies +not only possess beauty, but they are celebrated +for discretion, modesty, and unfeigned diffidence, +as well as wit, vivacity, and good nature. Who +ever heard of a Philadelphia lady setting up for a +reformer or standing out for woman's rights, or assisting +to <i>man</i> the election grounds [<i>sic</i>], raise a regiment, +command a legion, or address a jury? Our +ladies glow with a higher ambition. They soar to +rule the hearts of their worshippers, and secure +obedience by the sceptre of affection.... But all +women are not as reasonable as ours of Philadelphia. +The Boston ladies contend for the rights +of women. The New York girls aspire to mount +the rostrum, to do all the voting, and, we suppose, +<a name="Page_153"></a>all the fighting, too.... Our Philadelphia girls +object to fighting and holding office. They prefer +the baby-jumper to the study of Coke and Lyttleton, +and the ball-room to the Palo Alto battle. +They object to having a George Sand for President +of the United States; a Corinna for Governor; a +Fanny Wright for Mayor; or a Mrs. Partington for +Postmaster.... Women have enough influence +over human affairs without being politicians.... +A woman is nobody. A wife is everything. +A pretty girl is equal to ten thousand +men, and a mother is, next to God, all powerful.... +The ladies of Philadelphia, therefore, under +the influence of the most 'sober second thoughts' +are resolved to maintain their rights as Wives, +Belles, Virgins, and Mothers, and not as Women."</p> +<p>From the "Editor's Table" of <i>Harper's New +Monthly Magazine</i>, November, 1853: "Woman's +Rights, or the movement that goes under that +name, may seem to some too trifling in itself and +too much connected with ludicrous associations +to be made the subject of serious arguments. +If nothing else, however, should give it consequence, +it would demand our earnest attention +from its intimate connection with all the radical +and infidel movements of the day. A strange +affinity seems to bind them all together.... +But not to dwell on this remarkable connection—the +claim of 'woman's rights' presents not only +the common radical notion which underlies the +whole class, but also a peculiar enormity of its +<a name="Page_154"></a>own; in some respects more boldly infidel, or +defiant both of nature and revelation, than that +which characterises any kindred measure. It is +avowedly opposed to the most time-honoured proprieties +of social life; it is opposed to nature; +it is opposed to revelation.... This unblushing +female Socialism defies alike apostles and prophets. +In this respect no kindred movement is so decidedly +infidel, so rancorously and avowedly anti-biblical.</p> +<p>"It is equally opposed to nature and the established +order of society founded upon it. We do +not intend to go into any physiological argument. +There is one broad striking fact in the constitution +of the human species which ought to set the +question at rest for ever. This is the fact of +maternity.... From this there arise, in the first +place, physical impediments which, during the best +part of the female life, are absolutely insurmountable, +except at a sacrifice of almost everything that +distinguishes the civilized human from the animal, +or beastly, and savage state. As a secondary, yet +inevitably resulting consequence, there come +domestic and social hindrances which still more +completely draw the line between the male +and female duties.... Every attempt to break +through them, therefore, must be pronounced as +unnatural as it is irreligious and profane.... +The most serious importance of this modern +'woman's rights' doctrine is derived from its +direct bearing upon the marriage institution. The +<a name="Page_155"></a>blindest must see that such a change as is +proposed +in the relations and life of the sexes cannot leave +either marriage or the family in their present state. +It must vitally affect, and in time wholly sever, +that oneness which has ever been at the foundation +of the marriage idea, from the primitive +declaration in Genesis to the latest decision of the +common law. This idea gone—and it is totally +at war with the modern theory of 'woman's rights'—marriage +is reduced to the nature of a contract +simply.... That which has no higher sanction +than the will of the contracting parties, must, of +course, be at any time revocable by the same +authority that first created it. That which makes +no change in the personal relations, the personal +rights, the personal duties, is not the holy marriage +<i>union</i>, but the unholy <i>alliance</i> of concubinage."</p> +<p>In a speech of Senator George G. Vest, of +Missouri, in the United States Senate, January 25, +1887, these: "I now propose to read from a pamphlet +sent to me by a lady.... She says to her +own sex: 'After all, men work for women; or, if +they think they do not, it would leave them but +sorry satisfaction to abandon them to such existence +as they could arrange without us.'</p> +<p>"Oh, how true that is, how true!"</p> +<p>In 1890 a bill was introduced in the New York +Senate to lower the "age of consent"—the age at +which a girl may legally consent to sexual intercourse—from +16 to 14. It failed. In 1892 the +brothel keepers tried again in the Assembly. The +<a name="Page_156"></a>bill was about to be carried by universal +consent +when the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, +feeling the importance of the measure, called for +the individual yeas and nays, in order that the +constituents of the representatives might know +how their legislators voted. The bill thereupon +collapsed. In 1889 a motion was made in the +Kansas Senate to lower the age of consent from +18 to <i>12</i>. But the public heard of it; protests +flowed in; and under the pressure of these the law +was allowed to remain as it was.</p> +<p>Such are some typical examples of the warfare of +the opposition to all that pertains to advancing +the status of women. As I review the progress +of their rights, let the reader recollect that this +opposition was always present, violent, loud, and +often scurrilous.</p> +<p>In tracing the history of women's rights in the +United States my plan will be this: I shall first give +a general review of the various movements connected +with the subject; and I shall then lay +before the reader a series of tables, wherein may +be seen at a glance the status of women to-day in +the various States.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Single women.</div> +<div class="sidenote"><br> +<br> +<br> +History of agitation for women's rights.</div> +<p>In our country, as in England, single women +have at all times had practically the same legal +rights as men; but by no means the +same political, social, educational, or +professional privileges; as will appear more conclusively +later on.</p> +<p><a name="Page_157"></a>We may say that the history of the agitation +for +women's rights began with the visit of Frances +Wright to the United States in 1820. +Frances Wright was a Scotchwoman, born +at Dundee in 1797, and early exhibited +a keen intellect on all the subjects which +concern political and social reform. For several +years after 1820 she resided here and strove to +make men and women think anew on old traditional +beliefs—more particularly on theology, +slavery, and the social degradation of women. +The venomous denunciations of press and pulpit +attested the success of her efforts. In 1832 +Lydia Maria Child published her <i>History of +Woman</i>, a résumé of the status of women; and +this was followed by numerous works and articles, +such as Margaret Fuller's, <i>The Great Lawsuit, or +Man vs. Woman: Woman vs. Man</i>, and Eliza +Farnham's <i>Woman and her Era</i>. Various women +lectured; such as Ernestine L. Rose—a Polish +woman, banished for asserting her liberty. The +question of women's rights received a powerful +impetus at this period from the vast number of +women who were engaged in the anti-slavery +agitation. Any research into the validity of +slavery perforce led the investigators to inquire +into the justice of the enforced status of women; +and the two causes were early united. Women +like Angelina and Sarah Grimké and Lucretia +Mott were pioneers in numerous anti-slavery +conventions. But as soon as they dared to +<a name="Page_158"></a>address meetings in which men were present, a +tempest was precipitated; and in 1840, at the +annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Association, +the men refused to serve on any committee in +which any woman had a part; although it had +been largely the contributions of women which +were sustaining the cause. Affairs reached a +climax in London, in 1840, at the World's Anti-Slavery +Convention. Delegates from all anti-slavery +organisations were invited to take part; +and several American societies sent women to +represent them. These ladies were promptly denied +any share in the proceedings by the English +members, thanks mainly to the opposition of the +clergy, who recollected with pious satisfaction that +St. Paul permitted not a woman to teach. Thereupon +Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton +determined to hold a women's rights convention +as soon as they returned to America; and thus +a World's Anti-Slavery Convention begat an +issue equally large.</p> +<p>Accordingly, the first Women's Rights Convention +was held at Seneca Falls, New York, +July 19-20, 1848. It was organised by <i>divorced +wives, childless women, and sour old maids</i>, the +gallant newspapers declared; that is, by Mrs. +Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Lucretia Mott, +Mrs. McClintock, and other fearless women, who +not only lived the purest and most unselfish of +domestic lives, but brought up many children +besides. Great crowds attended. A <i>Declaration +<a name="Page_159"></a>of Sentiments</i> was moved and adopted; and as +this +exhibits the temper of the convention and illustrates +the then prevailing status of women very +clearly, I shall quote it:</p> +<p>DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS</p> +<p>"When, in the course of human events, it +becomes necessary for one portion of the family +of man to assume among the people of the earth a +position different from that which they have +hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of +nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent +respect to the opinions of mankind requires that +they should declare the causes which impel them +to such a course.</p> +<p>"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that +all men and women are created equal; that they +are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable +rights; that among these are life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these +rights governments are instituted, deriving their +just powers from the consent of the governed. +Whenever any form of government becomes destructive +of those ends, it is the right of those who +suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist +upon the institution of a new government, laying +its foundation on such principles, and organising +its powers in such form, as to them shall seem +most likely to effect their safety and happiness. +Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments +<a name="Page_160"></a>long established should not be changed for light +or transient causes; and accordingly all experience +hath shown that mankind are more disposed to +suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right +themselves by abolishing the forms to which they +were accustomed. But when a long train of +abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the +same object, evinces a design to reduce them +under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw +off such government, and to provide new guards +for their future security. Such has been the +patient sufferance of the women under this government, +and such is now the necessity which constrains +them to demand the equal station to which +they are entitled.</p> +<p>"The history of mankind is a history of repeated +injuries and usurpations on the part of man +toward woman, having in direct object the establishment +of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove +this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.</p> +<p>"He has never permitted her to exercise her +inalienable right to the elective franchise.</p> +<p>"He has compelled her to submit to laws, in +the formation of which she had no voice.</p> +<p>"He has withheld from her rights which are +given to the most ignorant and degraded men—both +natives and foreigners.</p> +<p>"Having deprived her of this first right of a +citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her +without representation in the halls of legislation, +he has oppressed her on all sides.</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_161"></a>He has made her, if married, in the eye of +the +law, civilly dead.</p> +<p>"He has taken from her all right in property, +even to the wages she earns.</p> +<p>"He has made her, morally, an irresponsible +being, as she can commit many crimes with +impunity, provided they be done in the presence +of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, +she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, +he becoming, to all intents and purposes, +her master—the law giving him power to deprive +her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.</p> +<p>"He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to +what shall be the proper causes, and, in case of +separation, to whom the guardianship of the children +shall be given, as to be wholly regardless +of the happiness of women—the law in all cases +going upon a false supposition of the supremacy +of man, and giving all power into his hands.</p> +<p>"After depriving her of all rights as a married +woman, if single, and the owner of property, he has +taxed her to support a government which recognises +her only when her property can be made +profitable to it.</p> +<p>"He has monopolised nearly all the profitable +employments, and from those she is permitted to +follow she receives but a scanty remuneration. +He closes against her all the avenues of wealth and +distinction which he considers most honourable to +himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or +law, she is not known.</p> +<p>"<a name="Page_162"></a>He has denied her the facilities for +obtaining +a thorough education, all colleges being closed +against her.</p> +<p>"He allows her in church, as well as state, +but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic +authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, +with some exceptions, from any public participation +in the affairs of the church.</p> +<p>"He has created a false public sentiment by +giving to the world a different code of morals for +men and women, by which moral delinquencies +which exclude women from society are not only +tolerated, but deemed of little account in man.</p> +<p>"He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah +himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her +a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience +and to her God.</p> +<p>"He has endeavoured, in every way that he +could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, +to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing +to lead a dependent and abject life.</p> +<p>"Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement +of one half the people of this country, their social +and religious degradation; in view of the unjust +laws above mentioned, and because women do feel +themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently +deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that +they have immediate admission to all the rights +and privileges which belong to them as citizens +of the United States.</p> +<p>"In entering upon the great work before us, +<a name="Page_163"></a>we anticipate no small amount of misconception, +misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use +every instrumentality within our power to effect +our object. We shall employ agents, circulate +tracts, petition the State and National legislatures, +and endeavour to enlist the pulpit and press in +our behalf. We hope this Convention will be +followed by a series of Conventions embracing +every part of the country."</p> +<p>Such was the defiance of the Women's Rights +Convention in 1848; other conventions were +held, as at Rochester, in 1853, and at Albany in +1854; the movement extended quickly to other +States and touched the quick of public opinion. +It bore its first good fruits in New York in 1848, +when the Property Bill was passed. This law, +amended in 1860, and entitled "An Act Concerning +the Rights and Liabilities of Husband and Wife" +(March 20, 1860), emancipated completely the +wife, gave her full control of her own property, +allowed her to engage in all civil contracts or +business on her own responsibility, rendered her +joint guardian of her children with her husband, +and granted both husband and wife a one-third +share of one another's property in case of the +decease of either partner.</p> +<p>Thus New York became the pioneer. The +movement spread, as I have mentioned, with +amazing rapidity; but it was not so uniformly +successful. Conventions were held, for example, +<a name="Page_164"></a>in Ohio, at Salem, April 19-20, 1850; at Akron, +May 28-29, 1851; at Massillon on May 27, 1852. +Nevertheless, in 1857, the Legislature of Ohio +passed a bill enacting that no married man should +dispose of any personal property without having +first obtained the consent of his wife; the wife was +empowered, in case of a violation of this law, to +commence a civil suit in her own name for the +recovery of the property; and any married woman +whose husband deserted her or neglected to provide +for his family was to be entitled to his wages +and to those of her minor children. A bill to +extend suffrage to women was defeated, by a vote +of 44 to 44; the petition praying for its enactment +had received 10,000 signatures.</p> +<p>The course of events as it has been described +in New York and Ohio, is practically the same +in the case of the other States. The Civil War +relegated these issues to a secondary place; but +during that momentous conflict the heroism of +Clara Barton on the battlefield and of thousands +of women like her paved the way for a reassertion +of the rights of woman in the light of her unquestioned +exertions and unselfish labours for her +country in its crisis. After the war, attention +began to be concentrated more on the right to <i>vote</i>. +By the Fourteenth Amendment the franchise was +at once given to negroes; but the insertion of the +word <i>male</i> effectually barred any national recognition +of woman's right to vote. A vigorous effort +was made by the suffrage leaders to have <i>male</i> +<a name="Page_165"></a>stricken from the amendment; but the effort was +futile. Legislators thought that the black man's +vote ought to be secured first; as the <i>New York +Tribune</i> (Dec. 12, 1866) puts it snugly: "We want +to see the ballot put in the hands of the black +without one day's delay added to the long postponement +of his just claim. When that is done, +we shall be ready to take up the next question" +(i.e., woman's rights).</p> +<p>The first Women's Rights Convention after the +Civil War had been held in New York City, May +10, 1866, and had presented an address to Congress. +Such was the dauntless courage of the +leaders, that Mrs. Stanton offered herself as a +candidate for Congress at the November elections, +in order to test the constitutional rights of a +woman to run for office. She received twenty-four +votes.</p> +<p>Six years later, on November I, 1872, Miss +Susan B. Anthony did a far more Audacious +thing. She went to the polls and asked to be +registered. The two Republican members of the +board were won over by her exposition of the +Fourteenth Amendment and agreed to receive +her name, against the advice of their Democratic +colleague and a United States supervisor. Following +Miss Anthony's example, some fifty other +women of Rochester registered. Fourteen voted +and were at once arrested under the enforcement +act of Congress of May 31, 1870 (<i>section</i> 19). The +case of Miss Anthony was argued, ably by her +<a name="Page_166"></a>attorney; but she was adjudged guilty. A <i>nolle +prosequi</i> was entered for the women who voted +with her.</p> +<p>Immediately after the decision in her case, +the inspectors who had registered the women were +put on trial because they "did knowingly and +willfully register as a voter of said District one +Susan B. Anthony, she, said Susan B. Anthony, +then and there not being entitled to be registered +as a voter of said District in that she, said Susan +B. Anthony, was then and there a person of the +female sex, contrary to the form of the statute of +the United States of America in such case made and +provided, and against the peace of the United +States of America and their dignity." The defendants +were ordered to pay each a fine of +twenty-five dollars and the costs of the prosecution; +but the sentence was revoked and an unconditional +pardon given them by President Grant, in an order +dated March 3, 1874. Miss Anthony was forced +to pay her fine, in spite of an appeal to Congress.</p> +<p>Such were the stirring times when the agitation +for women's rights was first brought to the fore +as a national issue. Within a few years, various +States, like New York and Kansas, put the question +of equal suffrage for women before its voters; +they in general rejected the measure. At present +there are four States which give women complete +suffrage and right to vote on all questions with the +same privileges as men, viz., Wyoming (1869), +Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), and Idaho (1896). +<a name="Page_167"></a>In 1838 Kentucky gave school suffrage to widows +with children of school age; in 1861 Kansas gave +it to all women. School suffrage was granted all +women in 1875 by Michigan and Minnesota, in +1876 by Colorado, in 1878 by New Hampshire and +Oregon, in 1879 by Massachusetts, in 1880 by +New York and Vermont, in 1883 by Nebraska, +in 1887 by North and South Dakota, Montana, +Arizona, and New Jersey. Kansas gave municipal +suffrage in 1887; and Montana gave tax-paying +women the right to vote upon all questions submitted +to the tax-payers. In 1891 Illinois granted +school suffrage, as did Connecticut in 1893. Iowa +gave bond suffrage in 1894. In 1898 Minnesota +gave women the right to vote for library trustees, +Delaware gave school suffrage to tax-paying +women, and Louisiana gave tax-paying women +the right to vote upon all questions submitted to +the tax-payers. Wisconsin gave school suffrage +in 1900. In 1901 New York gave tax-paying +women in all towns and villages of the State the +right to vote on questions of local taxation; and +the Kansas Legislature voted down almost unanimously +a proposal to repeal municipal suffrage. +In 1903 Kansas gave bond suffrage; and in 1907 +the new State of Oklahoma continued school +suffrage. In 1908 Michigan gave all women who +pay taxes the right to vote upon questions of local +taxation and the granting of franchises.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> Age of Legal consent.</div> +<p>The history of the "age of legal consent" has +an importance which through prudery and a wilful +<a name="Page_168"></a>ignorance of facts the public has never fully +realised. +I shall have considerable to say of it +later. It will suffice for the moment +to remark that until the decade preceding +1898 the old Common Law +period of ten, sometimes twelve, years was the +basis of "age of consent" legislation in most States +and in the Territories under the jurisdiction of +the national government. In 1885 the age in +Delaware was <i>seven</i>.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> The beginnings of higher education for women.</div> +<p>The Puritans, burning with an unquenchable +zeal for liberty, fled to America in order to build +a land of freedom and strike off the +shackles of despotism. After they were +comfortably settled, they forthwith proceeded, +with fine humour, to expel mistress +Anne Hutchinson for venturing to speak +in public, to hang superfluous old women for +being witches, and to refuse women the right to an +education. In 1684, when a question arose about +admitting girls to the Hopkins School of New +Haven, it was decided that "all girls be excluded +as improper and inconsistent with such a grammar +school as ye law enjoins and as in the Designs +of this settlement." "But," remarks Professor +Thomas, "certain small girls whose manners seem +to have been neglected and who had the natural +curiosity of their sex, sat on the schoolhouse steps +and heard the boys recite, or learned to read and +construe sentences from their brothers at home, +and were occasionally admitted to school."</p> +<p><a name="Page_169"></a>In the course of the next century the world +moved a little; and in 1789, when the public +school system was established in Boston, girls +were admitted from April to October; but until +1825 they were allowed to attend primary schools +only. In 1790 Gloucester voted that "two hours, +or a proportional part of that time, be devoted to +the instruction of females." In 1793 Plymouth +accorded girls one hour of instruction daily.</p> +<p>The first female seminary in the United States +was opened by the Moravians in Bethlehem, +Pennsylvania, in 1749. It was unique. In 1803, +of 48 academies or higher schools fitting for college +in Massachusetts, only three were for girls, although +a few others admitted both boys and girls.</p> +<p>The first instance of government aid for the +systematic education of women occurred in New +York, in 1819. This was due to the influence of a +remarkable woman. Mrs. Emma Willard had begun +teaching in Connecticut and by extraordinary +diligence mastered not only the usual subjects of +the curriculum, but in addition botany, chemistry, +mineralogy, astronomy, and the higher mathematics. +She had, moreover, striven always to introduce +new subjects and new methods into her +school, and with such success that Governor +Clinton, of New York, invited her to that State +and procured her a government subsidy. Her +school was established first at Watervliet, but +soon moved to Troy. This seminary was the first +girls' school in which the higher mathematics +<a name="Page_170"></a>formed a part of the course; and the first +public +examination of a girl in geometry, in 1829, raised +a storm of ridicule and indignation—the clergy, as +usual, prophesying the speedy dissolution of all +family bonds and therefore, as they continued +with remorseless logic, of the state itself. But +Mrs. Willard continued her ways in spite of clerical +disapproval and by-and-by projected a system +of normal schools for the higher education of +teachers, and even suggested women as superintendents +of public schools. New York survived +and does not even remember the names of the +patriots who fought a lonely woman so valiantly.</p> +<p>The first female seminary to approach college +rank was Mt. Holyoke, which was opened by +Mary Lyon at South Hadley, Mass., in 1836. +Vassar, the next, dates from 1865; and Radcliffe, +the much-abused "Harvard Annex," was instituted +in 1879. These were the first colleges +exclusively for women. Oberlin College had +from its foundation, in 1833, admitted men and +women on equal terms; although it took pains to +express its hearty disapproval of those women +who, after graduation, had the temerity to advocate +political rights for women—rights which +that same Oberlin insisted should be given the +negro at once. In 1858, when Sarah Burger and +other women applied for admission to the University +of Michigan, their request was refused.</p> +<div class="sidenote"> First women in medicine.</div> +<p>It was hard enough for women to assert their +rights to a higher education; to enter a profession +<a name="Page_171"></a>was almost impossible. Nevertheless, it was +done. +The pioneer in medicine was Harriet K. Hunt who +practised in Boston from 1822 to 1872 +without a diploma; but in 1853 the +Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania +conferred upon her the degree of Doctor of +Medicine. The first woman to receive a diploma +from a college after completing the regular course +was Elizabeth Blackwell, who attained that distinction +at Geneva, New York, in 1848. The first adequate +woman's medical institution was Miss +Blackwell's New York Infirmary, chartered in 1854. +In 1863, Dr. Zakrzewska, in co-operation with +Lucy Goddard and Ednah D. Cheney, established +the New England Hospital for Women and Children, +which aimed to provide women the medical +aid of competent physicians of their own sex, to +assist educated women in the practical study of +medicine, and to train nurses for the care of the +sick.<a name="FNanchor_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411"><sup>[411]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> In law.</div> +<p>In law, it would seem that Mistress Brut +practised in Baltimore as early as 1647; but after +her the first woman lawyer in the United +States was Arabella A. Mansfield, of Mt. +Pleasant, Iowa. She was admitted to the bar in +1864. By 1879 women were allowed to plead +before the Supreme Court of the United States.<a name="FNanchor_412"></a><a + href="#Footnote_412"><sup>[412]</sup></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_172"></a><br> +</p> +<div class="sidenote">In the ministry.</div> +<p>Coming now to the consideration of the ministry, +the first woman to attempt to assert a right to +that profession was Anne Hutchinson, +of Boston, in 1634. She was promptly +banished. Among the Friends and the Shakers +women like Lucretia Mott and Anne Lee preached; +and among the primitive Methodists and similar +bodies women were always permitted to exhort; +but the first regularly ordained woman in the +United States appears to have been Rev. Antoinette +Brown Blackwell, of the Congregational Church +who was ordained in 1852. In 1864 Rev. Olympia +Brown settled as pastor of the parish at Weymouth +Landing, in Massachusetts; and the Legislature +acknowledged marriages solemnised by women as +legal. Phebe Hanaford, Mary H. Graves, and +Lorenza Haynes were the first Massachusetts +women to be ordained preachers of the Gospel; +the latter was at one time chaplain of the +Maine House of Representatives. The best +known woman in the ministry at the present +day is Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, a Methodist +minister, president of the National American +Woman's Suffrage Association.<a name="FNanchor_413"></a><a + href="#Footnote_413"><sup>[413]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> As newspaper editors.</div> +<p>Women have from very early times been exceedingly +active in newspaper work. Anna Franklin +printed the first newspaper in Rhode +Island, in 1732; she was made official +printer to the colony. When the founder of the +<i>Mercury</i>, of Philadelphia, died in 1742, his widow, +<a name="Page_173"></a>Mrs. Cornelia Bradford, carried it on for many +years with great success, just as Mrs. Zenger continued +the <i>New York Weekly Journal</i>—the second +newspaper started in New York—for years after +the death of her husband. Anna K. Greene +established the <i>Maryland Gazette</i>, the first paper +in that colony, in 1767. Penelope Russell printed +<i>The Censor</i> in Boston, in 1771. In fact, there was +hardly a colony in which women were not actively +engaged in printing. After the Revolution they +were still more active. Mrs. Anne Royal edited +<i>The Huntress</i> for a quarter of a century. Margaret +Fuller ran <i>The Dial</i>, in Boston, in 1840 and +numbered Emerson and William Channing among +her contributors. From 1840 to 1849 the mill +girls of Lowell edited the <i>Lowell Offering</i>. These +are but a few examples of what women have done +in newspaper work. How very influential they +are to-day every one knows who is familiar with +the articles and editorial work appearing in +newspapers and magazines; and that women are +very zealous reporters many people can attest +with considerable vigour.<a name="FNanchor_414"></a><a + href="#Footnote_414"><sup>[414]</sup></a></p> +<div class="sidenote"> Women in industry.</div> +<p>The enormous part which women now play in +industry and in all economic production is a +concomitant of the factory system, specialised +industry, and all that makes +a highly elaborated and complex society. Be<a name="Page_174"></a>fore +the introduction of machine industry, and in +the simple society of the colonial days, women +were no less a highly important factor in economic +production; but not as wage earners. Their importance +lay in the fact that spinning, weaving, +brewing, cheese and butter making, and the like +were matters attended to by each household to +supply its own wants; and this was considered the +peculiar sphere of the housewife. In 1840 Harriet +Martineau found only seven employments open +to women in the United States, viz., teaching, +needlework, keeping boarders, working in cotton +mills and in book binderies, type-setting, and +household service.</p> +<p>I shall now present a series of fifty tables, by +means of which the reader may see at a glance the +status of women in all the States to-day. For convenience, +I shall arrange the views alphabetically.</p> +<br> +<p>TABLES SHOWING THE PRESENT STATUS OF WOMEN +IN THE UNITED STATES.</p> +<p>The right of "dower," as used in these tables, +refers to the widow's right, under the Common +Law, to the possession, for her life-time, of one +third of the real estate of which her husband was +possessed in fee-simple during the marriage.</p> +<p>"Curtesy" is the right of the husband after his +wife's death to the life use of his wife's real estate, +sometimes dependent on the birth of children, +sometimes not; and usually the absolute right to +her whole personal estate.</p> +<p><a name="Page_175"></a>It must be remembered that the enforcement +Of certain laws, particularly in regard to child +labour, is extremely lax in many States. It will +be noted also that an unscrupulous employer +could find loopholes in some of the statutes. +The reader can observe these things for himself +in his particular State.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Alabama</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 916,764; female 911,933.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and has full control of own property; but she +cannot mortgage her real and personal property +or alienate it without husband's consent. Married +women may execute will without concurrence +of husband and may bar latter's right of curtesy. +Husband may appoint guardian for children by +will; but wife has custody of them until they are +fourteen. If a wife commits a crime in partnership +with her husband she cannot be punished +(except for murder and treason). Husband is +not required by law to support the family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce is granted for +incurable impotence, adultery, desertion for two +years, imprisonment for two years or more, crimes +against nature, habitual drunkenness after marriage; +in favour of husband if wife was pregnant +at time of marriage without his knowledge or +agency, in favour of wife for physical violence on +<a name="Page_176"></a>part of husband endangering life or health, or +when there is reasonable apprehension of such +violence.</p> +<p>Limited divorce is granted for cruelty in either +of the parties or any other cause which would +justify absolute divorce, if the party desires only +a divorce from bed and board.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Women not allowed to work in +mines. Children under 12 not permitted to work +in any factory. All employers of women must +provide seats and must allow women to rest +when not actively engaged.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: There is no suffrage. +Women not eligible for any elective office; +they may be notaries public. There are 18 women +in the ministry, 12 journalists, 1 dentist, 3 +lawyers, 16 doctors, 3 professors, 2 bankers, 5 +saloon keepers, 4 commercial travellers, 11 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Arizona</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 17.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 71,795; female 51,136.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. Wife has control of property which +she had before marriage. Wife may contract +debts for necessaries for herself and children upon +credit of husband. She may sue and be sued and +make contracts in her own name as regards her +<a name="Page_177"></a>separate property, but must sue jointly with +husband for personal injuries, and damages recovered +are community property and in his control. +Father is legal guardian of minor children; +at his death mother becomes guardian as long as +she remains unmarried.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for excesses, cruelty, +or outrage, adultery, impotence, conviction +for a felony, desertion for one year, neglect of +husband to provide for one year, habitual intemperance; +in favour of husband if wife was +pregnant at time of marriage without his knowledge +or agency.</p> +<p>There is no limited divorce; but when the +husband wilfully abandons his wife, she can maintain +an action against him for permanent maintenance +and support.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No woman or minor may work +or give any exhibition in a saloon.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women 21 years old +or more who are mothers or guardians of a child +of school age are eligible to the office of school +trustee and may vote for such officers. There +are 12 women in the ministry, 1 dentist, 2 journalists, +4 lawyers, 4 doctors, 628 saloon keepers, +2 bankers, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Arkansas</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 675,312; female 636,252.</p> +<p><a name="Page_178"></a>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower exists, but not curtesy. Wife may +sell or transfer her separate real estate without +husband's consent. Father is legal guardian of +children, but cannot apprentice them or create +testamentary guardianship for them without +wife's consent. At husband's death wife may +be guardian of persons of children, but not of +their property, unless derived from her.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute or limited divorce for +impotence, wilful desertion for a year, when husband +or wife had a former wife or husband living +at the time of the marriage sought to be set aside, +conviction for felony or other infamous crime, +habitual drunkenness for one year, intolerable +indignities, and adultery subsequent to marriage.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Labour contracts of married +women, approved by their husbands, are legal +and binding. No woman may work in a mine.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 13 +women are ministers, 6 journalists, 9 lawyers, 39 +doctors, 3 professors, 3 saloon keepers, 9 commercial +travellers, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>California</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 820,531; female 664,522.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Wife may dispose of separate property +without husband's consent. In torts of a personal +<a name="Page_179"></a>nature she must sue jointly with her husband. +Husband is guardian of minor children; wife becomes +so at his death. Husband must provide +for family. If husband has no property or is +disabled, wife must support him and the family +out of her property or earnings.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for adultery, extreme +cruelty, wilful desertion for one year, wilful +neglect for one year, habitual intemperance +for one year, conviction for felony.</p> +<p>There are no statutory provisions for limited +divorce. But when the wife has any cause for +action as provided in the code, she may, without +applying for a divorce, maintain an action against +her husband for permanent support and maintenance +of herself or of herself and children.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Sex shall be no disqualification +for entering any business, vocation, or profession. +Children under 16 may not be let out for +acrobatic performances or any exhibition endangering +life or morals. Any one who sends a minor +under the age of 18 to a saloon, gambling house, or +brothel, is guilty of a misdemeanour. One day of +rest each week must be given all employees.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. May +be elected school trustees. May be notaries +public. There are 201 women in the ministry, +52 dentists, 116 journalists, 60 lawyers, 522 doctors, +8 professors, 129 saloon keepers, 9 bankers, +23 commercial travellers, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_180"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Colorado</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 295,332; female 244,368.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +No assignment of wages by a married +man is valid without the consent of his wife. +Neither dower nor curtesy obtains. Husband +and wife have same rights in making wills. Wife +can sue and be sued as if unmarried. She is joint +guardian of children with husband and has equal +powers. Husband must support family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for impotence, +when husband or wife had a wife or husband living +at time of marriage, adultery subsequent to marriage, +wilful desertion for one year, cruelty (including +the infliction of mental suffering as well +as physical violence), neglect to provide for one +year, habitual drunkenness for one year, conviction +for felony.</p> +<p>There is no limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Eight hours the usual day's +work. Children under 12 may not work in mines; +none under 14 may exhibit in saloons, variety +theatres, or any place endangering morals. No +female help may be sent to any place of bad repute. +Children under 14 may not be employed +in mills or factories. No woman may work underground +in a mine. All employers of women +must provide seats.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +<a name="Page_181"></a>AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Full suffrage. Women +are eligible to all offices; 10 have served +in the Legislature. There are 39 women in the +ministry, 23 dentists, 28 journalists, 17 lawyers, +172 doctors, 4 professors, 17 saloon keepers, 12 +bankers, 8 commercial travellers, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Connecticut</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 454,294; female 454,126.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +No dower or curtesy. Survivor gets one +third of property. Wife controls own property. +Wife and husband joint guardians of children with +equal powers. Husband must support family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for adultery, +fraudulent contract, wilful desertion for three +years with total neglect of duty, seven years' +absence when absent party is not heard from during +that period, habitual intemperance, intolerable +cruelty, sentence to imprisonment for life, +any infamous crime involving a violation of conjugal +duty and punishable by imprisonment.</p> +<p>There is no limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 12 may give +exhibition endangering limbs or morals. Employers +of females may not send them to any place +of bad repute. Eight hours is a day's work. +Women employees must have seats to rest. No +woman shall be forced to labour more than ten +hours a day.</p> +<p><a name="Page_182"></a>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage and may be elected school trustees. +There are 45 women in the ministry, 6 dentists, +122 doctors, 1 professor, 28 saloon keepers, 4 bankers, +13 commercial travellers, 14 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Delaware</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 94,158; female 90,577.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +If there is a child or lawful issue of a child +living, widow has a life interest in one third of the +real estate and one third absolutely of the personal +property. If there is no child nor the descendant +of a child living, widow has a life interest in one +half of the real estate and one half absolutely of +the personal estate. If there are neither descendants +nor kin of husband, she gets the entire real +estate for her life, and all the personal estate +absolutely. Father is legal guardian of children +and he alone may appoint a guardian at his death. +Husband must support family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for adultery, desertion +for three years, habitual drunkenness, impotence, +extreme cruelty, conviction for felony, +procurement of marriage by fraud for want of +age, wilful neglect to provide for three years.</p> +<p>Limited divorce may be decreed, in the discretion +of the court, for the last two causes +mentioned.</p> +<p><a name="Page_183"></a>LABOUR LAWS: All female employees must be +provided with seats. Sunday labour forbidden. +No minor under 15 may be let out for any gymnastic +or other exhibition endangering body or +morals. Separate lunch, wash-rooms, etc., for +all women employees; the rooms must be kept +reasonably heated. Using indecent or profane +language towards a female employee is a misdemeanour. +The governor must appoint a <i>female</i> +factory inspector who shall see that these laws +are enforced. Children under 14 may not work +in mills and factories; and no child under 16 shall +be forced to labour more than nine hours daily.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women in Milford, +Townsend, Wyoming, and Newark who pay a +property tax may vote for Town Commissioners. +All such women in the State may vote for school +trustees. There are 4 women in the ministry, 3 +dentists, 1 journalist, 1 lawyer, 7 doctors, 8 saloon +keepers, 1 commercial traveller, 2 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>District of Columbia</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT; 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 132,004; female 146,714.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and property, may be sued and sue, carry +on business, etc., as if unmarried. Husband and +wife are equal guardians of children. Husband +must furnish reasonable support if he have property. +Both dower and curtesy obtain.</p> +<p><a name="Page_184"></a>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for bigamy, +insanity +at time of marriage, impotence, adultery +habitual drunkenness for three years, cruel treatment +endangering life or health.</p> +<p>Limited divorce for drunkenness, cruelty, and +desertion.</p> +<p>In case of absolute divorce, only the innocent +party may remarry; but the divorced parties may +marry each other again.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 14 may be +let out for any public exhibition endangering +body or morals. Seats must be provided for +women employees. Employment agencies must +not send applicants to places of bad repute. +Children under 14 may not be employed in +any factory, hotel, etc.; but judge of juvenile +court may give dispensation to child between 12 +and 14. No girl under 16 may be bootblack or +sell papers or any other wares publicly.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +may be notaries public and members of Board of +Education. 17 women in the ministry, 7 dentists, +38 journalists, 23 lawyers, 56 doctors, 18 saloon +keepers, 1 banker, 7 commercial travellers, 2 +carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Florida</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16 (but 10 practically, +as penalty above 10 is insignificant).</p> +<p><a name="Page_185"></a>POPULATION: Male 275,246; female 253,296.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and owns separate estate; but cannot transfer +her real or personal property without husband's +consent. Dower prevails, but not curtesy. Wife +may make a will as if unmarried. Husband is +legal guardian of children. Husband must support +family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for impotence, +where the parties are within the degrees prohibited +by the law, adultery, bigamy, extreme cruelty, +habitual indulgence in violent and ungovernable +temper, habitual intemperance, desertion for one +year, if husband or wife has obtained a divorce +elsewhere and if the applicant has been a citizen +of Florida for two years.</p> +<p>There is no limited divorce. But the wife may +claim alimony, without applying for a divorce, +for any of these causes except bigamy.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Ten hours legal day's work. +Employers of women must provide seats. No +child under 14 may be let out for any public exhibition +endangering body or morals. Sunday +labour forbidden. No child under 12 may be employed +in any factory, or any place where intoxicating +liquor is sold; and no child under 12 +may labour more than nine hours a day.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +may be notaries public. 19 women in the +ministry, 1 dentist, 9 journalists, 4 lawyers, 21 +<a name="Page_186"></a>doctors, 1 banker, 3 commercial travellers, 6 +carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Georgia</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 10.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,103,201; female 1,113,130.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and own property. Dower prevails, but not +curtesy. Husband is legal guardian of children +and at his death may appoint a guardian to the +exclusion of his wife. Husband must support +family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for intermarriage +within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity +and affinity, mental incapacity at time of marriage, +impotence at time of marriage, force, menace, +duress, or fraud in obtaining marriage, pregnancy +of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband, +adultery, wilful desertion for three years, conviction +for an offence involving imprisonment for two +years or longer.</p> +<p>Absolute or limited divorce for cruelty or habitual +intoxication. Limited divorce for any ground +held sufficient in English courts prior to May 4, +1784.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No boss or other superior in +any factory shall inflict corporal punishment on +minor labourers. Seats must be provided for +female employees. Sunday labour forbidden. No +minors may be employed in barrooms. To let +<a name="Page_187"></a>out children for gymnastic exhibition or any +indecent +exhibition is a misdemeanour. Children +under 12 may not work in factories. No child +under 14 may work between 7 P.M. and 6 A.M.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 33 +women in the ministry, 2 dentists, 37 journalists, +6 lawyers, 43 doctors, 4 professors, 2 saloon +keepers, 4 bankers, 9 commercial travellers, 10 +carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Idaho</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 93,367; female 68,405.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. Wife can secure control of own property +only by going into court and showing that +her husband is mismanaging it. Husband is legal +guardian of the children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for adultery, extreme +cruelty, wilful desertion for one year, wilful +neglect for one year, habitual intemperance +for one year, conviction of felony, permanent +insanity.</p> +<p>There is no limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. Children +under 14 may not work in mine, factory, hotel, +or be messenger; no child under 16 shall work +more than nine hours per day; nor be let out for +any exhibition or vocation which endangers health +<a name="Page_188"></a>or morals; nor ever be sent to any immoral +resort +or serve or handle intoxicating liquors.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Full suffrage. Women +are eligible to all offices. 7 women are in +the ministry, 4 journalists, 2 lawyers, 15 doctors, +1 saloon keeper, 1 commercial traveller, 1 carpenter, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Illinois</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 2,472,782; female 2,348,768.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower prevails. Wife has full disposal of +property, can sue, etc., as if unmarried. Wife +and husband are equal guardians of children. +Wife is entitled to support suited to her condition +in life; husband is entitled to same support out +of her individual property. They are jointly +liable for family expenses.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for impotence, +bigamy, adultery, wilful desertion for two years, +habitual drunkenness for two years, attempt to +murder, extreme and repeated cruelty, conviction +for felony or other infamous crime.</p> +<p>No limited divorce; but married women living +separate through no fault of their own have an +action in equity for reasonable maintenance, if +they so desire.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. No minor +<a name="Page_189"></a>shall be allowed to sell indecent literature, +etc., +nor be let out as acrobat or mendicant or for any +immoral occupation. Eight hours a legal day's +work. No person shall be debarred from any +occupation or profession on account of sex; but +females shall not be required to work on streets or +roads or serve on juries. No child under 14 to be +employed in any place where intoxicating liquors +are sold or in factory or bowling alley; and shall +not labour more than eight hours. No child under +16 shall engage in occupations dangerous to life or +morals; and no female under 16 shall engage in +any employment which requires her to stand constantly. +Seats must be provided for all female +employees. No woman shall work more than +ten hours a day in stores and factories.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage and are eligible to all school offices and can +be notaries public. There are 292 women in the +ministry, 117 dentists, 240 journalists, 113 lawyers, +820 doctors, 31 professors, 196 saloon keepers, 8 +bankers, 101 commercial travellers, 24 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Indiana</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Males 1,285,404; females +1,231,058.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +No dower or curtesy. Wife may sue in her +<a name="Page_190"></a>own name for injuries, etc. Neither husband nor +wife can alienate their separate real estate without +each other's consent. A wife can act as +executor or administrator of an estate only with +her husband's consent. No married woman can +become a surety for any person. Husband is +guardian of children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotency, +desertion for two years, cruel and inhuman treatment, +habitual drunkenness, neglect of husband +to provide for two years, conviction of an infamous +crime.</p> +<p>Limited divorce for adultery, desertion or +neglect for six months, habitual cruelty or constant +strife, gross and wanton neglect of conjugal duty +for six months.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 12 may work in +a mine. Children under 15 may not be let out for +acrobatic or any immoral exhibition or to work in +any place where liquor is sold. Seats must be +provided for female employees. Eight hours a +legal day's work. No female under 18 may +work more than ten hours a day in any factory, +laundry, renovating works, bakery, or printing +office; no woman shall be employed in any factory +between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. Suitable dressing +rooms must be provided and not less than sixty +minutes given for the noonday meal. Sweatshops +under strict supervision of a State inspector. +No woman may work in a mine. No Sunday +labour.</p> +<p><a name="Page_191"></a>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +may be notaries public. 130 women in the +ministry, 34 dentists, 79 journalists, 40 lawyers, +195 doctors, 6 professors, 27 saloon keepers, 2 +bankers, 44 commercial travellers, 7 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Indian Territory</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 208,952; female 183,108.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. Dower is in force and curtesy. Woman +controls separate estate absolutely in practice; +for though at common law any money or property +given her husband for investment becomes his, +by statute it does not. Husband and wife are +equal guardians of children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute or limited for impotence, +wilful desertion for one year, bigamy, conviction +for felony or other infamous crime, +habitual drunkenness for one year, cruel treatment +endangering life, intolerable indignities, +adultery, incurable insanity subsequent to marriage.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION; INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 6 +women in ministry, 1 dentist, 4 journalists, 13 +doctors, 4 professors, 1 banker, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_192"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Iowa</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 15.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,156,849; female 1,075,004.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Any assignment of wages must have written +consent of both husband and wife. No dower +or curtesy; surviving husband or wife is entitled to +one third in fee simple of both real and personal +estate of other at his or her death. Wife controls +own property, can sue, etc., as if single. Husband +and wife are equal guardians of children. Support +and education of family is chargeable equally +on husband's and wife's property.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, wilful desertion +for two years, conviction of felony after marriage, +habitual drunkenness, inhuman treatment +endangering life, pregnancy of wife at time of +marriage by another man, unless the husband +have an illegitimate child living unknown to wife.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>Annulment for prohibited degrees, impotence, +bigamy, insanity or idiocy at time of marriage.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No female may be employed +in any place where intoxicating liquors are sold; +Seats must be provided for female employees. +Children under 16 not to assist in operating +dangerous machinery. No Sunday labour. No +person under 14 may work in a factory, mine, +laundry, slaughter-house, store where more than +eight persons are employed; no child under 16 +<a name="Page_193"></a>shall be employed in any vocation endangering +life or morals, nor shall work more than ten hours +a day.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have bond +suffrage and can vote on increase of taxes. They +may serve as school trustees and superintendents. +117 women in ministry, 52 dentists, 74 journalists, +53 lawyers, 260 doctors, 27 professors, 8 saloon +keepers, 11 bankers, 34 commercial travellers, 7 +carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Kansas</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 768,716; female 701,779.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Husband and wife are equal guardians of +children. Wife controls her separate property, can +sue, etc., as if unmarried. Neither husband nor +wife can convey or encumber real estate without +consent of other; nor dispose by will of more than +one half of the separate property without other's +consent. If there are no children, the surviving +husband or wife takes all the property, real and +personal; if there are children, one half. Husband +must support family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for bigamy, desertion for +one year, adultery, impotency, when wife at +time of marriage was pregnant by another than +her husband, extreme cruelty, fraudulent contract, +<a name="Page_194"></a>habitual drunkenness, gross neglect of duty, +conviction +and imprisonment for felony subsequent +to marriage.</p> +<p>No limited divorce; but wife may obtain alimony +without divorce for any causes above mentioned.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: People employing children under +14 in acrobatic or mendicant occupations +are guilty of a misdemeanour. No Sunday labour. +Seats must be provided for female employees. +No child under 14 may work in coal mine, nor +in any factory or packing house. No child under +16 may work at any occupation endangering +body or morals.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have municipal, +school, and bond suffrage. 63 women +in ministry, 21 dentists, 39 journalists, 43 lawyers, +190 doctors, 21 professors, 9 saloon keepers, 7 +bankers, 20 commercial travellers, 19 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Kentucky</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 12.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,090,227; female 1,056,947.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. Curtesy and dower are equalised. +After the death of either husband or wife, the +survivor is given a life interest in one third of the +realty of the deceased and an absolute estate in +one half of the personalty. Wife controls her +<a name="Page_195"></a>personal property, but cannot dispose of real +estate without husband's consent; the husband +can convey real estate without his wife's signature, +but it is subject to her dower. Husband is legal +guardian of children. He must furnish support +according to his condition, but if he has only his +wages there is no law to punish him for non-support.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute to both husband and wife +for impotence or inability to copulate and for +living apart for five consecutive years without +any cohabitation. Also to the party not in fault +for desertion for one year, adultery, condemnation +for felony, concealment of any loathsome disease +at time of marriage or contracting it afterwards, +force, duress, or fraud in obtaining marriage, +uniting with any creed or religious society requiring +a renunciation of the marriage covenant +or forbidding husband and wife to cohabit. To +the wife, when not in like fault, for confirmed +drunkenness of husband leading to neglect to +provide, habitual behaviour by husband for six +months indicating aversion to wife and causing +her unhappiness, physical injury or attempt at +it. To the husband for wife's pregnancy at time +of marriage unknown to him, adultery of wife, or +such conduct as proves her to be unchaste without +proof of adultery, and habitual drunkenness +of wife.</p> +<p>Limited divorce for any of these causes or any +other cause as the court may deem sufficient.</p> +<p><a name="Page_196"></a>LABOUR LAWS: Forbidden to let or employ any +children under 16 in any acrobatic or mendicant +or immoral occupations. No Sunday labour. No +child under 14 shall work in factory, mill, or mine +unless said child shall have no other means of +support. No child under 16 shall work more +than ten hours per day. Seats and suitable +dressing-rooms must be provided for female +employees.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: In the country districts +any widow having a child of school age and +any widow or spinster having a ward of school age +may vote for school trustees and school taxes. +In Louisville, five third-class, and twenty or more +fourth-class cities no woman has any vote. Women +may be notaries public. 39 women in ministry, +4 dentists, 21 journalists, 16 lawyers, 98 +doctors, 5 professors, 35 saloon keepers, 3 bankers, +20 commercial travellers, 9 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Louisiana</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 694,733; female 686,892.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. Wife cannot appear in court without +her husband's consent, and needs this consent in +all matters connected with her separate estate. +She may make her will without the authority of +her husband. No woman can be a witness to a +<a name="Page_197"></a>testament. No married woman can be executor +without husband's consent. The dowry is given +to the husband, for him to enjoy as long as the +marriage shall last. Husband is legal guardian +of children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute or limited for adultery, +condemnation to an infamous punishment, habitual +and intolerable intemperance, insupportable +excess or outrages, public defamation on the +part of one of the married persons toward the +other, desertion, attempted murder, proof of +guilt of husband or wife who has fled from justice +when charged with an infamous offence.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No female to be employed in +any place where liquor is sold. No Sunday labour. +No child under 15 to engage in any acrobatic or +theatrical public exhibition. Seats must be provided +for female employees, who are also to have +at least thirty minutes for lunch. No girl under 14 +may be employed in any mill or factory; and no +woman shall be worked more than ten hours a +day. Seats, suitable dressing-rooms, and stairs +must be provided. An inspector, male or female, +is appointed.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Tax-paying women +can vote on all questions of taxation. 14 women +in ministry, 4 dentists, 21 journalists, 8 lawyers, +25 doctors, 16 professors, 31 saloon keepers, 2 +bankers, 18 commercial travellers, 9 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<a name="Page_198"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Maine</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 350,995; female 343,471.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and has full control of separate property. +Wife and husband are equal guardians of children. +If there is no will, the interest of the husband or +wife in the real estate of the other is the same—one +third absolutely, if there is issue living, one +half if there is no issue, the whole if there is +neither issue nor kindred.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +extreme cruelty, desertion for three years, gross +and confirmed habits of Intoxication whether from +liquors or drugs, cruel and abusive treatment, +wilful neglect to provide.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Ten hours a day the legal +limit for female employees. No child under +14 may work in a factory. No Sunday labour. +No child under 16 may be employed in any +acrobatic, mendicant, immoral, or dangerous +occupation.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +can be justices of the peace, town clerks, and +registers of probate. They cannot be notaries +public. 39 women in ministry, 4 dentists, 33 +journalists, 4 lawyers, 67 doctors, 1 professor, 3 +bankers, 5 carpenters, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_199"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Maryland</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 589,275; female 598,769.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +No assignment of wages to be made without +consent of both husband and wife. Wife +controls separate property absolutely. Inheritance +of property is the same for widow and widower. +Husband is legal guardian of children and must +support family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, any cause +which by the laws of the State renders a marriage +null and void <i>ab initio</i>, adultery, desertion +for three years, illicit sexual intercourse <i>of the woman +before</i> marriage unknown to husband (<i>but the wife +cannot obtain a divorce from her husband if he has +been guilty of such an offence</i>). Limited divorce +for cruelty, excessively vicious conduct, or desertion. +In all cases where an absolute divorce is +granted for adultery or abandonment, the court +may decree that the guilty party shall not contract +marriage with any other person during the +lifetime of the other party. Annulment is given +for bigamy or marriage within the prohibited +degrees of consanguinity and affinity.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for +female employees. No Sunday labour. No child +under 14 may be employed in any mendicant or +acrobatic occupation. No child under 8 may be +employed in peddling. Women may not be wait<a name="Page_200"></a>resses +in any place where liquor is sold. Children +under 12 may not be employed in any business +except in the counties, from June 1 to Oct. 15, +Ten hours a legal day's work.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +serve as notaries public. 35 women in +ministry, 6 dentists, 23 journalists, 6 lawyers, 87 +doctors, 4 professors, 2 bankers, 13 commercial +travellers, 10 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Massachusetts</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,367,474; female 1,437,872.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and has control of her separate property subject +only to the husband's interests. She can +be executor, make contracts, etc., as if unmarried. +The husband is legal guardian of minor children; +he may dispose of them and may appoint a +guardian at his death. Husband must support +family. In distributing the estate, no distinction +is made between real and personal property. +The surviving husband or wife takes one third, +if deceased leaves children or their descendants; +5000 dollars and one half of the remaining estate +if the deceased leaves no issue; and the whole, if +deceased leaves no kin. This is taken absolutely +and not for life. Curtesy and dower exist; but +the old-time curtesy is cut down to a life-interest +<a name="Page_201"></a>in one third, the same as dower; and in order to +be +entitled to dower or curtesy, the surviving husband +or wife must elect to take it in preference to +the above provisions.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotency, +utter desertion for three years, gross and confirmed +habits of intoxication, cruel and abusive treatment, +wilful neglect to provide, sentence to imprisonment +for five years.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. Ten hours +a legal day's work. No woman to labour between +10 P.M. and 6 A.M. in any manufacturing establishment, +nor between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. in any textile +works. No child under 14 and no illiterate under +16 and over 14 may be employed in any factory +or mercantile establishment. No child under 14 +may be employed between 7 P.M. and 6 A.M., or +during the time when the public schools are in +session. Seats must be provided for females. +No woman or young person shall be required to +work more than six hours without thirty minutes +for lunch. No child under 15 may engage in any +gymnastic or theatrical exhibition.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage. They may be justices of the peace. +188 women in ministry, 38 dentists, 180 journalists, +47 lawyers, 729 doctors, 38 professors, 8 +saloon keepers, 3 bankers, 73 commercial travellers, +31 carpenters, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_202"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Michigan</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,248,905; female 1,172,077.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. Dower prevails, but not curtesy. +When the wife has separate real estate, she controls +it as if single. The husband cannot give +full title to his real estate unless the wife joins so +as to cut off her dower. Father is guardian of the +children. Husband must support.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +imprisonment for three years, desertion for two +years, habitual drunkenness, if husband or wife +has obtained a divorce in another State.</p> +<p>Limited or absolute divorce at the discretion +of the court for extreme cruelty, desertion for two +years, neglect to provide.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No female may be employed in +any place where liquor is sold. Seats must be +provided for female employees. Ten hours a +legal day's work. No Sunday labour. No child +under 16 may take part in any acrobatic or mendicant +or dangerous or immoral occupation, nor +shall any minor be given obscene literature to +sell. No female under 21 may be employed in +any occupation endangering life, health, or morals. +At least forty-five minutes must be allowed for +lunch.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: All women who +<a name="Page_203"></a>pay taxes may vote upon questions of local +taxation and the granting of franchises. Parents +and guardians have also school suffrage. Women +serve as notaries public. 105 women in +ministry, 17 dentists, 81 journalists, 27 lawyers, +270 doctors, 26 professors, 23 saloon keepers, 13 +bankers, 53 commercial travellers, 32 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Minnesota</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 932,490; female 818,904.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings, +but cannot convey or encumber her separate +real estate without husband's consent. No dower +or curtesy. If either husband or wife die intestate, +the survivor, if there is issue living, is +entitled to the homestead for life and one third +of the rest of the estate in fee simple. If there +are no descendants, the entire estate goes absolutely +to the survivor. Husband is guardian of +children and must support family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotency, +cruel and inhuman treatment, sentence to imprisonment +after marriage, wilful desertion for +one year, habitual drunkenness for one year.</p> +<p>Limited divorce—to wife only—for cruel and +inhuman treatment, on part of husband, or such +conduct as may make it unsafe and improper for +her to cohabit with him, desertion and neglect to +provide.</p> +<p><a name="Page_204"></a>LABOUR LAWS: Children between 8 and 18 must +be sent to school during whole period schools are +in session, except in cases of unusual poverty. +Ten hours a legal day's work. Seats must be provided +for female employees. No Sunday labour. +No child under 18 may engage in any occupation +between 6 P.M. and 7 A.M.; nor in any mendicant, +acrobatic, immoral, or dangerous business. No +child under 14 may work in factory or mine. +A <i>female</i> factory inspector must be appointed.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage and may vote for library trustees. 80 +women in ministry, 18 dentists, 75 journalists, +21 lawyers, 199 doctors, 16 professors, 17 saloon +keepers, 10 bankers, 46 commercial travellers, 8 +carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Mississippi</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 10.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 781,451; female 769,819.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings. He manages her separate property, +but must give an account of it annually. No +dower or curtesy. If husband or wife dies intestate, +the entire estate goes to the survivor; if +there is issue, surviving husband or wife has a +child's share of the estate. Each has equal rights +in making a will. Father is legal guardian of +children, but cannot deprive mother of custody +of their persons. Husband must support.</p> +<p><a name="Page_205"></a>DIVORCE: Absolute for marriage within +prohibited +degrees, natural impotence, adultery, +sentence to the penitentiary, wilful desertion for +two years, habitual drunkenness or excessive use +of drugs, habitually cruel treatment, pregnancy of +wife at time of marriage unknown to husband, +bigamy, insanity, or idiocy when party applying +did not know of it.</p> +<p>No limited divorce. The court may decree +that the guilty party must not marry again.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. There are +no other laws.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: A woman as a free-holder +or lease-holder may vote at a county +election to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption +of a law permitting stock to run at +large. If a widow and the head of a family, she +may vote on leasing certain portions of land in the +township which are set apart for school purposes. +Widows in country districts may also vote for +school trustees. Women cannot be notaries +public. 13 women in ministry, 2 dentists, 19 +journalists, 4 lawyers, 16 doctors, 3 professors, +1 saloon keeper, 3 bankers, 9 commercial travellers, +13 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Missouri</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,595,710; female 1,510,955.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own +<a name="Page_206"></a>earnings. Her separate property is liable for +debts contracted by the husband for necessaries +for the family. Wife can sue and be sued, make +contracts, etc., in her own name. She may hold +real property under three different tenures: an +equitable separate estate created by certain technical +words in the conveyance, and this she can dispose +of without husband's consent; a legal separate +estate, which she cannot convey without his +joinder; and a common law estate in fee, of which +the husband is entitled to the rents and profits. +Dower and curtesy prevail. Husband is guardian +of children and must support.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, bigamy, +adultery, desertion for one year, conviction for +felony or infamous crime, habitual drunkenness +for one year, cruel treatment endangering life +or intolerable indignities, vagrancy of husband, +pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown +to husband.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for female +employees. No woman may be employed +in any place where liquor is served except wife, +daughter, mother, or sister of owner. No child +under 14 to engage in any acrobatic, mendicant, +dangerous, or immoral occupation. No Sunday +labour. No female may work underground in a +mine. Children between 8 and 14 must go to +school. No child under 14 may work in any +theatre, concert hall, factory; but this applies +<a name="Page_207"></a>only to cities with 10,000 or more inhabitants, +No female may labour more than 54 hours a week.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +may be notaries public. 138 women in +ministry, 32 dentists, 87 journalists, 61 lawyers, +303 doctors, 17 professors, 44 saloon keepers, +30 bankers, 37 commercial travellers, 15 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Montana</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 149,842; female 93,487.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +There is dower, but not curtesy. Wife +controls separate property. Husband is guardian +of children and must furnish support; but wife +must help, if necessary. Her personal property is +subject to debts incurred for family expenses.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, extreme +cruelty, wilful desertion, wilful neglect, habitual +intemperance, conviction of felony.</p> +<p>No limited divorce; but wife may have an action +for permanent maintenance, at discretion of court, +even though absolute divorce is denied.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Children under 16 may not be +employed in mines. Children between 8 and 14 +must go to school. No child under 16 may take +part in any acrobatic, mendicant, or wandering +occupation. No Sunday labour. No child under +<a name="Page_208"></a>16 may work in mill, factory, railroad, in any +place where machinery is operated, or in any +messenger company.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women may vote +for school trustees. Those owning property may +vote on all questions submitted to tax-payers. +They cannot be notaries public. 22 women in +ministry, 3 dentists, 6 journalists, 3 lawyers, 16 +doctors, 7 saloon keepers, 2 commercial travellers, +2 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Nebraska</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 564,592; female 501,708.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and separate property. Both dower and +curtesy prevail; but wife can mortgage or sell +her real estate without husband's consent and +without regard for his right of curtesy. He can +do the same with his separate property, but subject +to her dower. Husband and wife are equal +guardians of the children. Husband must provide; +but wife's separate property can be levied on +for necessaries furnished the family, if husband +has no property. Wife is not "next of kin" and +cannot sue, for example, for damages to a minor +child, even though she is divorced and has custody +of children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +<a name="Page_209"></a>imprisonment for three years, desertion for two +years, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment for +life, extreme cruelty, neglect to provide.</p> +<p>Limited divorce also for last three causes. Annulment +for bigamy, when one party is white +and other has one fourth or more negro blood, +insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, consanguinity, +obtaining marriage by fraud or force, +when there has been no subsequent cohabitation.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Children must go to school +between 7 and 15. Ten hours a legal day's labour. +Sunday labour forbidden. Females to be employed +between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. Seats must be +provided. No child under 14 may be employed +in any place where liquor is sold, factory, hotel, +laundry, messenger work. No child under 14 +may be employed at all during school term.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women who are +mothers of children of school age or who are assessed +on real or personal property have school +suffrage; but they cannot vote for State or county +superintendents or county supervisors. Women +act as notaries public. 95 women in ministry, +16 dentists, 35 journalists, 23 lawyers, 134 doctors, +11 professors, 10 saloon keepers, 15 commercial +travellers, 12 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Nevada</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p><a name="Page_210"></a>POPULATION: Male 25,603; female 16,732.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +She may control her separate property, +if a list of it is filed with the county recorder, but +unless it is kept constantly inventoried and recorded, +it becomes community property. The +community property, both real and personal, is +under absolute control of husband and at wife's +death it all belongs to him. On death of the husband, +wife is entitled to half of it. A wife's +earnings are hers if her husband has allowed her +to appropriate them to her own use, when they +are regarded as a gift from him to her. Husband +is legal guardian of children. Husband +must provide; but there is no penalty if he does +not.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, adultery +since marriage remaining unforgiven, wilful desertion +for one year, conviction for felony or +infamous crime, habitual drunkenness which incapacitates +party from contributing his or her +share to support of family, extreme cruelty, wilful +neglect to provide for one year.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: There are none dealing with +women and children.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +cannot serve as notaries public. 2 women in +ministry, 4 dentists, 1 journalist, 1 lawyer, 6 +doctors, 5 saloon keepers.</p> +<a name="Page_211"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>New Hampshire</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 205,379; female 206,209.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower and curtesy prevail. Wife can +sue and be sued and make contracts without husband's +consent. Husband is legal guardian of +children, and must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, adultery, +extreme cruelty, imprisonment for one year, +treatment seriously injuring health or endangering +reason, absence for three years without being +heard from, habitual drunkenness for three years, +joining any religious sect which believes relation +of husband and wife unlawful, desertion for three +years with neglect to provide.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 12 may be employed +in any factory, nor any child under 14 +while schools are in session. Nine hours and forty +minutes the legal limit for female labour per day. +No child under 14 shall engage in any acrobatic +exhibition or in the selling of obscene literature. +No Sunday labour. Seats must be provided for +female employees. No female may sell or serve +liquor.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS. Women have school +suffrage. They may be notaries public. 25 +women in ministry, 3 dentists, 12 journalists, 2 +<a name="Page_212"></a>lawyers, 61 doctors, 3 professors, 9 saloon +keepers +6 commercial travellers, 5 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>New Jersey</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 941,760; female 941,909.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower and curtesy prevail. She has full +disposal of her personal property by will; but +must get husband's consent to convey or encumber +her separate estate. Husband is guardian of +children. Husband must furnish support; but +wife must contribute, if he is unable.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for bigamy, marriage +within prohibited degrees, adultery, wilful desertion +for two years, impotence.</p> +<p>Limited divorce for extreme cruelty.</p> +<p>In case of desertion and neglect to provide, +wife has an action for support.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for +female employees. Hours for labour must be +from 7 A.M. to 12 M. and from 1 P.M. to 6 P.M., except +in fruit canning and glass factories. Sunday +labour forbidden. No child under 18 may engage +in any acrobatic, immoral, or mendicant occupation. +No child under 15 may engage in any vocation +unless he or she shall have attended school +within twelve months immediately preceding. No +child under 14 may work in a factory. No female +<a name="Page_213"></a>employee shall be sent to any place of bad +repute.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women in villages +and country districts have school suffrage. They +may be notaries public. 87 women in ministry, +19 dentists, 45 journalists, 23 lawyers, 176 doctors, +4 professors, 208 saloon keepers, 4 bankers, 11 +commercial travellers, 12 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>New Mexico</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 104,228; female 91,082.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Curtesy prevails. Neither husband nor +wife can convey real property without consent +of other. Husband is legal guardian of children, +but is not required by law to support the family.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, cruel treatment, +desertion, impotency, neglect to provide, +habitual drunkenness, conviction for felony and +imprisonment subsequent to marriage, pregnancy +of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband.</p> +<p>No limited divorce. But when husband and +wife have permanently separated, wife has an action +for support.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. There are +no other laws relating to women and children.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Wo<a name="Page_214"></a>men +may be notaries public. 10 women in ministry, +2 dentists, 5 doctors, 3 professors, 2 saloon +keepers, 1 commercial traveller, 3 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>New York</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18. (Trials may be +held privately, and it is almost impossible to secure +a conviction.)</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 3,614,780; female 3,654,114.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower and curtesy prevail. Wife holds +separate property free from control of husband. +Both husband and wife can make wills without +knowledge or consent of other. Wife can mortgage +or convey her whole estate without husband's +consent; he can do this with his personal property; +but not with his real estate. Husband and wife +are equal guardians of the children. Husband +must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery only.</p> +<p>Limited for cruelty, conduct rendering cohabitation +unsafe or improper, desertion, neglect to +provide.</p> +<p>Court refuses to allow party guilty of adultery +to marry again, but may modify this after five +years if conduct of defendant has been uniformly +good. Adultery is now a crime in New York.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 16 may take part +in any acrobatic, mendicant, theatrical, wandering, +dangerous, or immoral occupation. Children +<a name="Page_215"></a>must attend school between 8 and 16. No child +under 14 may be employed in any occupation +during school term. Eight hours a day's work. +Seats must be provided for female employees. +No child under 14 may work in a factory. Female +labour is confined between 6 A.M. and 9 P.M., and +must not exceed 10 hours. No girl under 16 +shall sell papers or periodicals in any public place. +Female employment agencies may not send applicant +to any place of bad repute.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Tax-paying women +in towns and villages may vote on questions of +local taxation. Parents and widows with children +have school suffrage in towns and villages. Women +may be notaries public. 511 women in +ministry, 108 dentists, 365 journalists, 124 lawyers, +103 commercial travellers, 925 doctors, 49 professors, +348 saloon keepers, 81 bankers, 84 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>North Carolina</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 938,677; female 955,133.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower and curtesy prevail. Wife controls +separate property. Wife is not bound by a +contract unless husband joins in writing. In +actions against her he must be served with +the suit. Wife cannot be sole trader without +<a name="Page_216"></a>husband's written consent. Husband is legal +guardian of children, and must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to +husband.</p> +<p>Limited for desertion, turning partner maliciously +out of doors, cruel treatment endangering +life, intolerable indignities, habitual drunkenness.</p> +<p>Wife has an action for separate maintenance +if husband neglects to provide or is a drunkard +or spendthrift.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. No child +under 12 may be employed in factory, except +oyster canning concerns which pay for opening +oysters by the bushel. No person under 18 shall +be required to labour more than 66 hours per +week. No child under 12 shall work in a mine. +No boy or girl under 14 shall work in a factory +between 8 P.M. and 5 A.M.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +cannot be notaries public. 25 women in +ministry, 6 journalists, 22 doctors, 2 professors, +2 saloon keepers, 3 bankers, 4 commercial travellers, +6 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>North Dakota</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 177,493; female 141,653.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earn<a name="Page_217"></a>ings +and separate property absolutely. Dower +and curtesy do not prevail; if husband or wife dies +intestate, survivor takes one half of the estate, if +there is only one child living or the lawful issue +of one child; if there are more, survivor gets one +third. If husband is unable to support family, +wife must maintain him and the children. Husband +is guardian of children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, extreme cruelty, +wilful desertion for one year, wilful neglect +for one year, habitual intemperance for one +year, conviction of felony.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Children under 12 may not +work in mines, factories, or workshops. Children +must go to school between 8 and 14, unless they +have already been taught adequately and poverty +compels them to work. No Sunday labour. No +woman under 18 shall labour more then ten hours +per day.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage and are eligible to all school offices. They +may be notaries public. 15 women in ministry, +5 dentists, 2 journalists, 6 lawyers, 15 doctors, +1 professor, 1 commercial traveller, 4 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Ohio</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 2,102,655; female 2,054,890.</p> +<p><a name="Page_218"></a>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings, but wife controls separate property. +Either husband or wife on the death of the other +is entitled to one third of the real estate for life. +Husband is legal guardian of children, and must +provide; but if he is unable, wife must assist.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for bigamy, desertion for +three years, adultery, impotence, extreme cruelty, +fraudulent contract, any gross neglect of duty, +habitual drunkenness for three years, imprisonment +in penitentiary, procurement of divorce in +another State. No limited divorce; but wife has +an action for alimony without divorce for adultery, +any gross neglect of duty, desertion, separation +on account of ill treatment by husband, +habitual drunkenness, sentence and imprisonment +in penitentiary.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 14 may work in +a mine. Children must go to school between 8 +and 14. Seats and suitable toilet rooms must be +provided for female employees. No child under +14 may be employed in any establishment or +take part in any acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, +or immoral vocation. Hours for girls under 18 +confined between 6 A.M. and 7 P.M., nor may they +work more than ten hours per day. No Sunday +labour. No labour agency shall send any female to +an immoral resort.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women may vote +for members of boards of education, but not for +<a name="Page_219"></a>State commissioner nor on bonds and +appropriations. +They cannot be notaries. 206 women in +ministry, 40 dentists, 151 journalists, 66 lawyers, +451 doctors, 26 professors, 337 saloon keepers, +15 bankers, 62 commercial travellers, 31 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Oklahoma</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 214,359; female 182,972.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and separate property absolutely. If husband +or wife dies intestate, leaving one child or +lawful issue of child, survivor receives one third of +the estate; otherwise one half. If there are no +kin, survivor takes all. Husband is guardian of +children, and is expected to provide; but law assigns +no penalty if he does not.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for bigamy, desertion for +one year, impotence, pregnancy of wife at time +of marriage by other than husband, extreme +cruelty, fraudulent contract, habitual drunkenness, +gross neglect of duty, conviction and imprisonment +for felony after marriage.</p> +<p>Wife may have an action for separate maintenance +for any of these causes without applying +for divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No children under 15 may be +employed in any occupation injurious to body or +morals. No Sunday labour. Ten hours per day +legal labour for children under 14.</p> +<p><a name="Page_220"></a>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women may vote +for school trustees. They may be notaries +public. 29 women in ministry, 1 dentist, 5 +journalists, 5 lawyers, 26 doctors, 1 professor, 4 +commercial travellers, 3 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Oregon</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 232,985; female 183,972.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +By registering as a sole trader, she can +carry on business in her own name. Civil disabilities +are same for husband and wife except as to +voting and holding office. If husband or wife +dies intestate, and there are no descendants living, +survivor takes whole estate. If there is issue +living, the widow receives one half of husband's +real estate and one half of his personal property. +The widower takes a life interest in all the wife's +real estate, whether there are children or not +and all her personal property absolutely if there +are no descendants living; otherwise one half. +Husband and wife are equal guardians of children. +Husband must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotency, adultery, +conviction for felony, habitual drunkenness for +one year, wilful desertion for one year, cruel treatment +or indignities making life burdensome.</p> +<p>No limited divorce. Annulment if either party +is one fourth negro or Mongolian blood.</p> +<p><a name="Page_221"></a>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. No child +under 14 shall work in factory, mill, mine, telegraph, +telephone, or public messenger service; +and no child under 14 shall be employed at all +during school session. Attendance at school compulsory +between 8 and 14. Hours of work for +children under 16 to be confined between 7 A.M. +and 6 P.M. Seats must be provided for female +employees. Ten hours a day the legal limit for +female labour.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women having +property in school districts have school suffrage +and may be elected school trustees. They may +be notaries. 40 women in ministry, 15 dentists, +17 journalists, 8 lawyers, 82 doctors, 7 professors, +5 saloon keepers, 10 bankers, 18 commercial travellers, +7 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Pennsylvania</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 3,204,541; female 3,097,574.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Dower and curtesy prevail. Wife cannot +mortgage separate estate without husband's consent; +cannot sue or be sued or contract without +his consent; and in order to carry on business in +her own name must secure special permission +from the court. Husband is legal guardian of +children, and must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, bigamy, +<a name="Page_222"></a>adultery, desertion for two years, cruelty or +intolerable +indignities, marriage within prohibited degrees +of consanguinity or affinity, fraud, conviction for +felony for more than two years, lunacy for ten +years.</p> +<p>Limited divorce for desertion, turning wife +out of doors, cruelty, adultery.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for +female employees. Employment of females in +mines forbidden. Children under 18 may not +engage in any mendicant occupations; those +under 15 may not exhibit in any place where +liquor is sold nor take part in any acrobatic or immoral +vocation. Sunday labour forbidden. No +female may work in bakery or macaroni or other +establishment more than twelve hours per day. +Children must go to school between 8 and 16. +No child under 16 may work in any anthracite +coal mine. No child under 14 shall be employed +in any establishment. One hour must be allowed +for lunch. No employment bureau shall send +any female to an immoral resort.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 290 +women in ministry, 73 dentists, 125 journalists, +73 lawyers, 601 doctors, 38 professors, 183 saloon +keepers, 17 bankers, 44 commercial travellers, 40 +carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Rhode Island</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 210,516; female 218,040.</p> +<p><a name="Page_223"></a>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and separate estate, subject to husband's +right to curtesy. Curtesy and dower both prevail. +Husband is legal guardian of children and +must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute or limited for marriages +originally void by law, conviction for crime involving +loss of civil status, when either party +may be presumed to be naturally dead from absence, +etc., impotence, adultery, desertion for any +time at discretion of court, continued drunkenness, +neglect to provide, any gross misbehaviour.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 13 may be employed +except during vacation. No child under +15 may be employed unless he or she has school +certificate. No child under 14 to work in factory. +Hours of labour for children under 16 confined between +6 A.M. and 8 P.M. Seats must be provided +for all female employees. No child under 16 shall +be employed in any acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, +or immoral occupation. Hours for female +labour confined to ten. Sunday labour forbidden.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 24 +women in ministry, 5 dentists, 7 journalists, 3 +lawyers, 56 doctors, 2 saloon keepers, 5 commercial +travellers, 6 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>South Carolina</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 664,895; female 675,421.</p> +<p><a name="Page_224"></a>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and separate estate absolutely. Dower prevails, +but not curtesy. Husband is legal guardian +of children, and is required to provide, but law as +it stands offers many loopholes.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: There are no divorce laws in South +Carolina.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for +female employees. Sunday labour forbidden. No +child under 12 to work in factory, mill, or textile +establishment, except in cases of extreme poverty +duly attested; all such labour to be confined between +6 A.M. and 8 P.M.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +cannot be notaries. 17 women in ministry, +1 dentist, 6 journalists, 3 lawyers, 17 doctors, 13 +professors, 3 saloon keepers, 2 commercial travellers, +13 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>South Dakota</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 216,164; female 185,406.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and controls separate estate. Joint real +estate can be conveyed only by signature of both +husband and wife, but husband can dispose of +joint personal property without wife's consent. +In order to control her separate property, wife +must keep it recorded in the office of the county +<a name="Page_225"></a>register. No dower and no curtesy. Survivor +gets one half of estate, if there is one child or +issue of child; otherwise one third; unless there +are neither children nor kin, when survivor takes +all. On the death of an unmarried child, father +inherits all its property. If he is dead and there +are no other children, mother succeeds; but if +there are brothers and sisters, she inherits a child's +share. Husband is guardian and must support; +but if he is infirm, wife must do so.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, extreme +cruelty, wilful desertion or neglect or habitual +intemperance for one year, conviction of +felony.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>Party guilty of adultery cannot marry any +other, except the innocent party, until death of +latter.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Sunday labour forbidden. No +woman under 18 may labour more than ten hours +a day. No child under 15 may work in mine, +hotel, laundry, factory, elevator, bowling alley, +or any place where liquor is sold. No child +under 15 shall be employed at all while schools are +in session.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women can vote +for school trustees. They may be notaries. 29 +women in ministry, 3 dentists, 4 journalists, 12 +lawyers, 24 doctors, 7 professors, 3 saloon keepers, +3 commercial travellers, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_226"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Tennessee</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,021,224; female 999,392.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings, and wife can do nothing with her separate +estate without his consent. Dower and curtesy +prevail. Husband has right to all rents and profits +of wife's estate. No law requires husband to +provide. Husband is guardian of children.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, bigamy, +adultery, desertion for two years, conviction for +felony, attempted murder, pregnancy of woman +at time of marriage without knowledge of husband, +habitual drunkenness.</p> +<p>Limited for wife only for cruel treatment by +husband or intolerable indignities, and desertion +or refusal to provide.</p> +<p>Party guilty of adultery cannot marry person +with whom adultery has been committed during +life of former partner.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. No child +under 14 may be employed in factory, workshop, +or mine. Seats must be provided for female +employees. Hours for labour of women confined +to 60 per week.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 30 +women in ministry, 1 dentist, 19 journalists, 14 +lawyers, 48 doctors, 9 professors, 6 saloon keepers, 4 +bankers, 16 commercial travellers, 6 carpenters, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_227"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Texas</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 15.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,578,900; female 1,469,810.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Husband controls wife's +earnings and wife can do nothing with her separate +property without his consent. No dower or curtesy. +Husband and wife succeed equally to each other's +estate. Husband is guardian of children and may +be required to provide out of his wife's estate.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for excesses or outrages; +in favour of husband when wife is taken in adultery +or has deserted him for three years; in favour of +wife, if husband has deserted her for three years +or has abandoned her and lives in adultery with +another woman. In favour of either husband or +wife on conviction for felony.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. No child +under 12 may be employed in any establishment +using machinery. No females shall be employed +in any place where liquor is sold except immediate +members of owner's family.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +can be notaries. 50 women in ministry, +12 dentists, 51 journalists, 17 lawyers, 100 doctors, +3 professors, 26 saloon keepers, 18 bankers, 29 +commercial travellers, 12 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Utah</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p><a name="Page_228"></a>POPULATION: Male 141,687; female 135,062.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +No dower or curtesy. Husband and wife +succeed equally to each other's estate at death. +Woman controls separate estate absolutely. +Husband is legal guardian of children. There is +no penalty for non-support.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, adultery, desertion +for one year, neglect to provide, habitual +drunkenness, conviction of felony, cruel treatment +causing bodily injury or mental distress, permanent +insanity.</p> +<p>No limited divorce; but wife has an action for +separate maintenance in case of desertion or +neglect to provide on part of husband.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No females may work in mines. +No Sunday labour.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Full suffrage; therefore +all offices are open to women. 20 women +in ministry, 5 dentists, 7 journalists, 1 lawyer, +34 doctors, 2 saloon keepers, 1 banker, 3 commercial +travellers, 1 carpenter, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Vermont</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 16.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Males 175,138; females 168,503.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and controls separate property. No dower +or curtesy. Husband and wife have same powers +<a name="Page_229"></a>of mutual inheritance, except that widower does +not take his wife's personal property. Husband +is guardian of children and must support.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute or limited for adultery, +sentence to hard labour, intolerable severity, desertion +for three years, neglect to provide, absence +for seven years without being heard from.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No child under 16 to be employed +after 8 P.M. No child under 12 may +work in mill, factory, railroad, quarry, or messenger +service. No female shall be employed in +barrooms. No Sunday labour.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage. They may be notaries. 17 women in +ministry, 3 dentists, 15 journalists, 21 doctors, +1 professor, 2 saloon keepers, 11 commercial +travellers, 3 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Virginia</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 925,897; female 928,287.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and separate property absolutely. Dower +and curtesy prevail. Husband is guardian of +children and must support.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +sentence to penitentiary, conviction of an infamous +offence prior to marriage without knowledge +of other party, desertion for three years, +<a name="Page_230"></a>pregnancy of wife at time of marriage or +previous +prostitution without knowledge of husband.</p> +<p>Limited for cruelty, reasonable apprehension of +bodily hurt, desertion.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for +female employees. Hours of female labour confined +to ten. No child under 12 may work in +factory or mine; no child under 14 shall work between +6 P.M. and 7 A.M. No child under 14 shall +be hired for any mendicant, acrobatic, dangerous, +or immoral occupation. No Sunday labour.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL, +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. 37 +women in ministry, 1 dentist, 12 journalists, 7 +lawyers, 32 doctors, 20 professors, 19 saloon +keepers, 13 commercial travellers, 9 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Washington</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 304,178; female 213,925.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and controls separate estate; but control of +community property is vested absolutely in the +husband; this includes everything acquired after +marriage by the joint or separate efforts of either. +Husband and wife have equal rights of inheritance +to one another's estate; but are not equal +guardians of the children, as husband can exclude +wife by will. Support of the family is +chargeable upon the property of both husband or +wife, or either of them. No dower or curtesy.</p> +<p><a name="Page_231"></a>DIVORCE: Absolute for any cause deemed by +court sufficient, when court is satisfied that parties +can no longer live together, fraudulent contract, +adultery, impotence, desertion for one year, +cruel treatment, habitual drunkenness, neglect +to provide, imprisonment.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No female may be employed in +a mine. Every profession and occupation open +to women, but they may not hold public office. +No Sunday labour. Females shall not be employed +in any place where liquor is sold. Seats must be +provided for female employees. Hours limited to +ten. No child under 14 shall labour in factory, +mill, or workshop except at discretion of juvenile +judge. Children must go to school between 8 +and 15.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +and bond suffrage, but cannot vote for State +or county superintendents. 38 women in ministry, +7 dentists, 13 journalists, 13 lawyers, 62 +doctors, 3 professors, 8 saloon keepers, 1 banker, +8 commercial travellers, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>West Virginia</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 14.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 499,242; female 459,558.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings, +but cannot sell or encumber her separate +<a name="Page_232"></a>property without husband's consent. Husband is +legal guardian and must provide. Dower and +curtesy prevail.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +imprisonment in penitentiary, conviction of an +infamous offence before marriage, desertion for +three years, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage +or prostitution before without knowledge of husband, +in favour of wife when husband was notoriously +a licentious person before marriage without +her knowledge.</p> +<p>Limited for cruelty, reasonable apprehension of +bodily hurt, desertion, habitual drunkenness.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No Sunday labour. No child +under 12 may work in factory or mill and no child +under 14 shall be employed during school session. +No child under 15 may be employed in any +mendicant, acrobatic, immoral, or dangerous occupation, +nor in any place where liquor is sold. +Seats must be provided for female employees. +No female may work in mine.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: No suffrage. Women +cannot be notaries. 26 women in ministry, +4 dentists, 4 journalists, 4 lawyers, 18 doctors, 4 +professors, 9 saloon keepers, 2 bankers, 3 commercial +travellers, 2 carpenters, etc.</p> +<br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Wisconsin</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 18.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 1,067,562; female 1,001,480.</p> +<p><a name="Page_233"></a>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. +Assignment of wages of husband must +have wife's written consent. Wife controls separate +property absolutely. Dower and curtesy +prevail. Husband is guardian of children and +must provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for impotence, adultery, +sentence to imprisonment for three years prior to +marriage. Limited or absolute for desertion for +one year, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, neglect +to provide, conduct of husband rendering it improper +or unsafe for wife to live with him.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: Female labour confined to eight +hours per day. No child under 14 may work in +factory, workshop, bowling alley, or mine. Children +between 14 and 16 must get permission from +juvenile judge. No child under 16 shall be employed +on dangerous machinery. None under +14 shall take part in theatrical or circus exhibition +as musician unless accompanied on tours +by parent or guardian. Authorities shall in all +cases determine whether occupation is dangerous +or immoral for children under 14. No Sunday +labour.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Women have school +suffrage. They may be notaries. 65 women in +ministry, 24 dentists, 32 journalists, 23 lawyers, +154 doctors, 12 professors, 143 saloon +keepers, 2 bankers, 27 commercial travellers, 9 +carpenters, etc.</p> +<a name="Page_234"></a><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Wyoming</i></p> +<p>AGE OF LEGAL CONSENT: 21.</p> +<p>POPULATION: Male 58,184; female 34,347.</p> +<p>HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings +and separate property absolutely. Neither +dower nor curtesy prevail. Husband and wife +have same rights of mutual inheritance. Husband +is legal guardian of children, but there is no +penalty if he does not provide.</p> +<p>DIVORCE: Absolute for adultery, impotence, +conviction for felony, desertion for one year, +habitual drunkenness, extreme cruelty, neglect +to provide for one year, intolerable indignities, +vagrancy of husband, conviction of felony prior +to marriage unknown to other party, pregnancy +of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband.</p> +<p>No limited divorce.</p> +<p>LABOUR LAWS: No female shall work in mine. +Acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, or immoral +occupations forbidden to children under 14. No +Sunday labour. Seats must be provided for female +employees.</p> +<p>SUFFRAGE, POLITICAL CONDITION, INDUSTRIAL +AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS: Full suffrage. Women +are eligible for all offices. 2 women in +ministry, 2 journalists, 12 doctors, 1 professor, +no saloon keepers, lawyers, or dentists, 2 carpenters, +etc.</p> +<br> +<p>In studying these tables, it should be remembered +that new laws are being made constantly; +<a name="Page_235"></a>and that the census of 1910 will give figures +which +as soon as they appear must supersede those of +1900.</p> +<br> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">SOURCES:</h4> +<p>I. The Statutes of the Several States, from earliest times to +the present day. Published by Authority.</p> +<p>II. All newspapers and periodicals.</p> +<p>III. The Census Reports, especially the various separate reports +such as that on "Marriage and Divorce"; and the Reports +of the Commissioner of Labour.</p> +<p>IV. The History of Woman Suffrage: edited by Elizabeth +Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and +Ida Husted Harper, 4 vols. [First two published by Fowler and +Wells, New York, 1881 and 1882; last two by Susan B. Anthony, +Rochester, 1887 and 1902.]</p> +<p>V. The Encyclopedia of Social Reforms: edited by William +D.P. Bliss, with the Co-operation of many Specialists. Funk +and Wagnalls, New York and London, 1898.</p> +<br> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410">[410]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, for example, the account in the <i>New York Tribune</i>, +Sept. 8, 9, and 12, 1853, of what happened at the Women's +Rights Convention at that time.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411">[411]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In 1900 there were 7399 female physicians and surgeons in +the United States, and 808 female dentists.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412">[412]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In 1900 there were 1049 women lawyers in the United +States. The above statements are from Bliss, <i>Encyc</i>., p. 1291.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413">[413]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In 1900 there were 3405 women clergy in the United States.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414">[414]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In 1900 there were 2193 women journalists in the United +States. This does not, of course, include women reporters +and the like.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_236"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<h2>GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS</h2> +<p>It is twenty-three centuries since Plato gave to +the world his magnificent treatise on the +State. The dream of the Greek philosopher of +equal rights for all intelligent citizens, among +whom he includes women, has in large part been +realised; but much is yet wanting to bring society +to the standard of the Ideal Republic. In not a +few States of the world the conditions affecting +property rights are inequitable; in all but very +few States woman is still barred from the field of +politics and from the legitimate rights of citizenship; +and the day seems far distant when the +States possessing a representative government will +be prepared to accept the woman citizen as eligible +for administrative positions.</p> +<p>It will, therefore, be my purpose in this chapter +first to consider five of the most serious objections +to the granting of equal suffrage, that is to +say, to the concession to women of full citizens' +rights under the law. It will be found that these +objections are based on a presumed inferiority of +women to men in various respects. I shall give +consideration next in order to the question of the +<a name="Page_237"></a>inferiority or superiority of one sex over the +other. +In view, furthermore, of the new ferment in +thought in modern society, it will be useful to +analyse certain habits of mind and to indicate the +necessity for a readjustment of old beliefs in +the light of recent evolution. I shall conclude +my history with a suggestion for definite reforms +which, I believe, must be brought about, whether +equal suffrage is granted or not, before women can +attain their maximum of efficiency.</p> +<p>The opposition to the granting of equal suffrage +is, as I have said, based mainly upon five +classes of contentions:</p> +<br> +<table summary="" border="0" style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">I.</span></td> + <td> The theological.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"><span + style="margin-left: 0.5em;">II.</span></td> + <td> The physiological.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">III.</td> + <td> The social or political.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"><span + style="margin-left: 0.5em;">IV.</span></td> + <td> The intellectual.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">V.</span></td> + <td> The moral.</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<p>A consideration and an analysis of these five +classes of objections will constitute a summary of +the relations of woman to the community, and +may also serve as a guide or suggestion to the +possibility of a legitimate development, in the +near future, of her rights as a citizen.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span> The theological argument +is based upon +the distinctly evil conception of woman, presented +in <i>Genesis</i>, as the cause of misery in this world +and upon the subordinate position assigned to her +by Paul and Peter. Christ himself has left us +no teachings on the subject. The Hebrew and +Oriental creed of woman's sphere permeated the +<a name="Page_238"></a>West as Christianity expanded and forced to +extinction the Roman principle of equality. Only +within fifty years, has the female sex regained the +rights enjoyed by women under the law of the +Empire seventeen centuries ago. The Apostolic +theory of complete subordination gained strength +with each succeeding age. I have already cited +instances of ecclesiastical vehemence. As a final +example I may recall that when, early in the +nineteenth century, chloroform was first used +to help women in childbirth, a number of Protestant +divines denounced the practice as a sin +against the Creator, who had expressly commanded +that woman should bring forth in sorrow +and tribulation. Yet times have so far changed +within two decades that the theological argument +is practically obsolete among Protestants, although +it is still influential in the Roman Catholic +Church, which holds fast to the doctrine laid +down by the Apostles. We may say, however, +that of all the objections, the theological has, in +practice, the least weight among the bulk of the +population. The word <i>obey</i> in the clerical formula +<i>love, honour, and obey</i> provokes a smile.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> The physiological +argument is more powerful. +Its supporters assert that the constitution +of woman is too delicate, too finely wrought to +compete with man in his chosen fields. The +physiological argument makes its appearance most +persistently in the statement that woman should +have no vote because she could not defend her +<a name="Page_239"></a>property or her country in time of war. In reply +to this some partisans of equal suffrage have +thought it necessary to prove that women are +physically equal in all respects to men. But the +issues between nations which in the centuries +past it had been believed could be adjusted only +by war, by being fought out (not, of course, +to any logical conclusion, but to a result which +showed simply that one party was stronger than +the other), are now, in the great majority of cases, +determined by the more reasonable, the more +civilised, method of arbitration.</p> +<p>As a matter of fact, the cause of woman's rights +will suffer no harm by a frank admission that +women are not, in general, the peers of men in +brute force. The very nature of the female sex, +subjected, as it is, to functional strains from which +the male is free, is sufficient to invalidate such a +claim. A refutation of the physiological objection +to equal suffrage is, however, not hard to +find. Even in war, as it is practised to-day, +physical force is of little significance compared +with strategy which is a product of the intellect. +In a naval battle for instance, ships no longer engage +at close range, where it is possible for the crew +of one to board the opposing ship and engage in +hand to hand conflict with the enemy; machinery +turns the guns and even loads them; the whole +fight is simply a contest between trained gunners, +who must depend for success on cool mathematical +computation.</p> +<p><a name="Page_240"></a>Nevertheless, it is true that under stress or +the +need of making a livelihood women in many instances +do show physical endurance equal to that +of men. Women who are expert ballet dancers +and those who are skilled acrobats can hardly +be termed physiological weaklings. In Berlin, +you may see women staggering along with huge +loads on their backs; in Munich, women are street-cleaners +and hod-carriers; on the island of Capri, +the trunk of the tourist is lifted by two men onto +the shoulder of a woman, who carries it up the +steep road to the village. In this country many +women are forced to do hard bodily labour ten +hours a day in sweat-shops. In all countries +and in all ages there have been examples of women +who, disguised as men, have fought side by +side with the male and with equal efficiency. The +case of Joan of Arc will at once occur to the +reader; and those who are curious about this +subject may, by consulting the records of our +Civil War, find exciting material in the story of +"Belle Boyd," "Frank Miller," and "Major +Cushman."<a name="FNanchor_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415"><sup>[415]</sup></a></p> +<p>Doubtless women are stronger physically than +they were a half-century ago, when it was considered +unladylike to exercise. If you will read +the novels of that time, you will find that the +heroine faints on the slightest provocation or +weeps copiously, like Amelia in <i>Vanity Fair</i>, +<a name="Page_241"></a>whenever the situation demands a grain of +will-power +or of common-sense. But to-day women +seldom faint or weep in literature; they play tennis +or row. When, in 1844, Pauline Wright Davis +lectured on physiology before women in America +and displayed the manikin, some of her auditors +dropped their veils, some ran from the room, and +some actually became unconscious, because their +sense of delicacy was put to so sharp a test.</p> +<p>It should be borne in mind, in connection with +the contention that the privileges of a citizen +ought to be accorded only to those persons who +are physically capable of helping to defend the +community by force, that no such principle is applied +in fixing the existing qualifications for male +citizenship. A large number of the voters of +every community are, on the ground either of +advanced years or of invalidism, physically disqualified +for service as soldiers, sailors, or policemen. +This group of citizens includes a very large +proportion of the thinking power of the community. +No intelligently directed state would, +however, be prepared to deprive itself of the counsels, +of the active political co-operation, and of the +service from time to time in the responsibility of +office, of men of the type of Gladstone (at the age +of seventy-five), of John Stuart Mill (always a +physical weakling), of Washington (serving as +President after he was sixty), on the ground that +these citizens were no longer capable of carrying +muskets in the ranks.</p> +<p><a name="Page_242"></a>Any classification of citizens, any +privileges +extended to voters, ought, of course, to be arrived +at on a consistent and impartial principle.</p> +<p>Further, under the conditions obtaining in +this twentieth century, governments, whether of +nations, of states, or of cities, are carried on not +by force but by opinion. In the earlier history +of mankind, each family was called upon to maintain +its existence by physical force. The families +the members of which (female as well as male) +were not strong enough to fight for their existence +were crushed out. Par into the later centuries, +issues between individuals were adjusted by the +decision of arms. Up to within a very recent +date, it may be admitted that issues between +nations could be settled only by war. It is, however, +at this time the accepted principle of representative +government in all communities that +matters of policy are determined by the expression +of opinion, that is by means of the votes given by +the majority of its citizens. It is by intelligence +and not by brute force that the world is now being +ruled, and with the growth of intelligence and a +better understanding of the principles of government, +it is in order not only on the grounds of +justice but for the best interests of the state to +widen the foundations of representative government, +so as to make available for voting and for +official responsibilities all the intelligence that is +comprised within the community. This is in my +judgment the most conclusive reply to the objec<a name="Page_243"></a>tion +that the physical weakness of woman unfits +her for citizenship.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span> According to the social +or political argument, +if woman is given equal rights with man, +the basis of family life, and hence the foundation +of the state itself, is undermined, as a house +divided against itself cannot stand. It is said +that <span style="font-weight: bold;">(1) </span>there must be some +one authority in a +household and that this should be the man; <span + style="font-weight: bold;">(2) +</span>woman will neglect the home if she is left free to +enter politics or a profession; <span style="font-weight: bold;">(3)</span> +politics will +degrade her; <span style="font-weight: bold;">(4)</span> when +independent and self-asserting +she will lose her influence over man; +and <span style="font-weight: bold;">(5) </span>most women do not +want to vote or to +enter politics.</p> +<p>It is astonishing with what vehemence men will +base arguments on pure theory and speculation, +while they wilfully close their eyes to any facts +which may contradict their assumptions. It is +inconceivable to a certain type of mind that a +husband and wife can differ on political questions +and may yet maintain an even harmony, while +their love abates not one whit. In the four States +where women vote—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, +and Idaho—there is no more divorce than in +other States; and any one who has travelled in +these communities can attest that no domestic +unhappiness results from the suffrage. Nor does +it in New Zealand.</p> +<p>It is said that there must be some one supreme +authority; but this depends on the view taken of +<a name="Page_244"></a>marriage. Under the old Common Law, the +personality of the wife was merged completely +in that of her husband; marriage was an absolute +despotism. Under the Canon Law, woman is +man's obedient and unquestioning subject; marriage +is a benevolent despotism. To-day people +are more inclined to look upon matrimony as a +partnership of equal duties, rights, and privileges.</p> +<p>Sophocles argued in one of his tragedies that +children belong entirely to the father, that the +mother can assert no valid claim for anything. +Lawyers have found this logic excellent; and the +records are full of instances of children being +taken from a hard-working mother in order to be +handed over to a drunken father who wants their +wages for his support. It is no longer so in most +states. Civilisation has advanced so far, that the +pains of bringing forth and raising children are +acknowledged to give the mother a right almost +equal to that of the father to determine all that +concerns the child. There is some reason, therefore, +for believing that she should have a voice +also in passing upon laws which may make or +undo for ever the welfare of the boys and girls for +whom she struggles during the years that they +are growing to manhood and womanhood. Men +are for the greater part so engrossed in business +that on certain questions they are far less competent +to be "authorities" than women. Against +stupid pedagogy, against red-tape, against the +policy that morality must never interfere with +<a name="Page_245"></a>business principles, against civic dirtiness, +against +brothel and saloon, women are more active than +men, because they see more clearly how vitally +the interests of their children are affected by these +evil conditions. Wherever women vote, these +questions are to the fore.</p> +<p>Closely connected with the "one authority" +argument is the old contention, so often resorted +to and relied upon, that women, if they are permitted +to vote, will neglect the home, and that, +if the professions are opened to them, they will +find these too absorbingly attractive. Much +weight should, however, be given to the great +power of the domestic instinct implanted in the +nature of woman. In the States where women +vote and are eligible for political offices, there +are fewer unmarried women in proportion to the +population than in States where they have no such +rights. The great leaders of the woman suffrage +movement from Mrs. Stanton to Mrs. Snowden +have in their home circle led lives as beautiful +and have raised families as large and as well +equipped morally and intellectually as those who +are content to sit by the fire and spin.</p> +<p>Thus far I have argued from the orthodox view, +that matrimony ought to be the goal of every +woman's ambition. But if a woman wishes to +remain single and devote herself exclusively to +the realisation of some ideal, it is hard to see +why she should not. Men who take this course +are eulogised for their noble self-sacrifice in +<a name="Page_246"></a>immolating themselves for the advancement of +the cause of civilisation; women who do precisely +the same thing are sometimes unthinkingly spoken +of in terms of contempt or with that complacent +pity which is far worse. It is difficult for us to +realise adequately what talented women like +Rosa Bonheur had to undergo because of this +curious attitude of humanity.</p> +<p>"The home is woman's sphere." This shibboleth +is the logical result of the attitude mentioned. +Doubtless, the home is woman's sphere; +but the home includes all that pertains to it—city, +politics and taxes, laws relating to the protection +of minors, municipal rottenness which may +corrupt children, schools and playgrounds and +museums which may educate them. Few doctrines +have been productive of more pain than the +"woman's sphere" argument. It is this which +has, for a thousand years, made the unmarried +woman, the <i>Old Maid</i>, the butt of the contemptible +jibes of Christian society, whereof you will find +no parallel in pagan antiquity. Dramatic writers +have held her up to ridicule on the stage on account +of the peculiarities of character which are +naturally acquired when a person is isolated from +participation in the activities of life. It is the +doctrine which has made women glad to marry +drunkards and rakes, to bring forth children +tainted with the sins of their fathers, and to suffer +hell on earth rather than incur the ridicule of the +Christian gentleman who may, without incurring +<a name="Page_247"></a>the protest of society, remain unmarried and sow +an unlimited quantity of wild oats. It is this doctrine +which was indirectly responsible for the +hanging and burning of eccentric old women on +the charge that they were witches. As men found +a divine sanction for keeping women in subjection, +so in those days of superstition did they blaspheme +their Creator by digging out of the Old Testament, +as a justification for their brutality, the text, +"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."</p> +<p>"Politics will degrade women"—this naïve +confession that politics are rotten is a fairly +strong argument that some good influence is +needed to make them cleaner. Generally speaking, +it is difficult to imagine how politics could be +made any worse. If a woman cannot go to the +polls or hold office without being insulted by +rowdies, her vote will be potent to elect officials +who should be able to secure for the community a +standard of reasonable civilisation. There is no +case in which more sentimentality is wasted. +Lovely woman is urged not to allow her beauty, +her gentleness, her tender submissiveness to become +the butt of the lounger at the street corner; +and in most instances lovely woman, like the +celebrated Maître Corbeau, is cajoled effectively. +Meanwhile the brothel and the sweat-shop continue +on their prosperous way. By a curious +inconsistency, man will permit woman to help +him out of a political dilemma and will then +suavely remark that suffrage will degrade her.</p> +<p><a name="Page_248"></a>During the Civil War, Anna Dickinson by her +remarkable lecture entitled, "The National +Crisis" saved New Hampshire and Connecticut +for the Republicans; Anna Carroll not only gave +such a crushing rejoinder to Breckinridge's secession +speech that the government printed and +distributed it, but she also, as is now generally +believed, planned the campaign which led to the +fall of Forts Henry and Donelson and opened +the Mississippi to Vicksburg. How many men +realise these facts?</p> +<p>The theory that politics degrade women will +not find much support in such States as Colorado +and Wyoming. Here, where equal suffrage obtains, +women have been treated with uniform +courtesy at the polls; they have even been elected +to legislatures with no diminution of their womanliness; +and the House of Wyoming long ago made +a special resolution of its approval of equal rights +and attested the beneficial results that have followed +the extension of the suffrage to women.<a name="FNanchor_416"></a><a + href="#Footnote_416"><sup>[416]</sup></a> +Judge Lindsey of Colorado has said that his +election, and consequent power to work out his +great reforms in juvenile delinquency, was due to +the backing of women at a time when men, for +"<a name="Page_249"></a>business reasons," were averse to extend their +aid. "No one would dare to propose its repeal +[i.e., the repeal of equal suffrage], and if left to +the men of the State any proposition to revoke the +rights bestowed on women would be overwhelmingly +defeated." Experience in Colorado and +elsewhere has shown that any important moral +issue will bring out the women voters in great +force; but after election they are content to resume +their domestic duties; and they have shown +no great desire for political office.<a name="FNanchor_417"></a><a + href="#Footnote_417"><sup>[417]</sup></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_250"></a>Before I leave the discussion as to whether +politics degrade women, it will not be out of +place to consider the question whether certain +women may not, if they have a vote, degrade +politics. Of such women there are two classes—the +immoral and the merely ignorant. As to +the former, much fear has been expressed that they +would be the very agents for unscrupulous politicians +to use at the polls. Exact data on this +<a name="Page_251"></a>matter are not available. I shall content myself +with quoting a statement by Mrs. Ida Husted +Harper<a name="FNanchor_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418"><sup>[418]</sup></a>:</p> +<p>"That 'immoral' class," said Mrs. Harper, "is +a bogey that has never materialised in States +where women have the suffrage. Those women +don't vote. Indeed, Denver's experience has +been interesting in that respect. When equal +suffrage was first granted, women of that class +were compelled by the police to register. It was +a question of doing as the police said, of course, +or being arrested. The women did not want to +vote. They don't go under their real names; they +have no fixed residence, and so on. Anyway, +the last thing they wanted was to be registered +voters.</p> +<p>"But the corrupt political element needed their +vote, and were after it, through the police. These +women actually appealed to a large woman's +political club to use its influence to keep the police +from forcing them to register. A committee was +appointed; it was found that the story was true; +coercion was stopped, and the women's vote +turned out the chief of police who attempted it. +There is now no coercion, and this class simply +pays no attention to politics at all."</p> +<p>The doubling of the number of ignorant voters +by giving all women alike the ballot would be a +more serious affair. A remedy for that, however, +lies in making an educational test a necessary +<a name="Page_252"></a>qualification for all voters. In this connection +the remarks of Mr. G.H. Putnam are suggestive<a name="FNanchor_419"></a><a + href="#Footnote_419"><sup>[419]</sup></a>: +"If I were a citizen of Massachusetts +or of any State which, like Massachusetts, possesses +such educational qualification, I should be +an active worker for the cause of equal suffrage. +As a citizen of New York who has during the last +fifty years done his share of work in the attempt +to improve municipal conditions, I am forced to +the conclusion that it will be wiser to endure for +a further period the inconsistency, the stupidity, +and the injustice of the disfranchisement of thousands +of intelligent women voters rather than to +accept the burden of an increase in the mass +of unintelligent voters. The first step toward +'equal suffrage' will, in my judgment, be a fight +for an educational qualification for all voters."</p> +<p>Those who maintain that when women are independent +and self-asserting, they will lose their +influence over men, assume that we view things +to-day as they did a century ago and that the +thoughts of men are not widened with the progress +of the suns. The woman who can share the +aspirations, the thoughts, the complete life of a +man, who can understand his work thoroughly +and support him with the sympathy born of +perfect comprehension, will exert a far vaster influence +over him than the milk-and-water ideal +who was advised "to smile when her husband +smiled, to frown when he frowned, and to be +<a name="Page_253"></a>discreetly silent when the conversation turned +on +subjects of importance." It is a good thing for +women to be self-asserting and independent. +There is and always has been a class of men who, +like Mr. Murdstone, are amenable to justice and +reason only when they know that their proposed +victim can at any time break the chains with +which they would bind her.</p> +<p>This brings us to the last of the social or political +arguments, viz., "Most women do not want to +vote."<a name="FNanchor_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420"><sup>[420]</sup></a> +Precisely the same argument has been +used by slave owners from time immemorial—the +slaves do not wish to be free. As Professor +Thomas writes<a name="FNanchor_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421"><sup>[421]</sup></a>: +"Certainly the negroes +of Virginia did not greatly desire freedom before +the idea was developed by agitation from the +outside, and many of them resented this outside +interference. 'In general, in the whole western +Sahara desert, slaves are as much astonished +to be told that their relation to their owners is +wrong and that they ought to break it, as +boys amongst us would be to be told that +their relation to their fathers was wrong and +ought to be broken.' And it is reported from +eastern Borneo that a white man could hire no +natives for wages. 'They thought it degrading to +work for wages, but if he would buy them, they +would work for him.'" It is akin to the old +<a name="Page_254"></a>contention of despots that when their subjects +are fit for freedom, they will make them free; +but nobody has ever seen such a time.</p> +<p>Reform of evil conditions does not come from +below; leaders with visions of the future must +point the way. I once heard of a very respectable +lady of Boston who exclaimed indignantly against +certain proposed changes in child labour laws in +North Carolina, where she owned shares in a cotton +mill. She maintained that the children who +worked at the looms ten hours a day expressed +no discontent; it kept them off the streets; and +the operators, in the kindness of their hearts, had +actually had the looms made especially to accommodate +conveniently the diminutive size of +the little workers. Some people might, with +great profit to themselves, read Plato's superb +allegory of the men in the cave.</p> +<p>The fact that various women's associations have +been instituted in opposition to the extension of +woman suffrage—as in Boston and New York—is +no argument for depriving all women of the +franchise. If the women who compose these +societies do not care to vote, they do not need to; +but they have no right to deprive of their rights +those who do so desire. It is said that good +women will not go to the polls; yet there are +in every large city hundreds of respectable males +who disdain to vote. A woman is more likely to +have a sense of duty to vote than a man. It is +the old cry, "Don't disturb the old order of things.</p> +<p><a name="Page_255"></a>If you make us think for ourselves, we shall +be so +unhappy." So Galileo was brought to trial, +so Anne Hutchinson was banished; and so persecuted +they the prophets before them.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">IV.</span> Another argument that is +made much of +is the intellectual inferiority of woman. For ages +women were allowed nor higher education than +reading, writing, and simple arithmetic, often +not even these; yet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, +George Sand, George Eliot, Harriet Martineau, +Jane Austen, and some scores of others did work +which showed them to be the peers of any minds +of their day. And if no woman can justly +claim to have attained an eminence such as that +of Shakespeare in letters or of Darwin in science, +we may question whether Shakespeare would have +been Shakespeare or Darwin Darwin if the society +which surrounded them had insisted that it was +a sin for them to use their minds and that they +should not presume to meddle with knowledge. +When a girl for the first time in America took a +public examination in geometry, in 1829, men +wagged their heads gravely and prophesied the +speedy dissolution of family and state.</p> +<p>To the list of women whose service for their +fellows would have been lost if the old-time barriers +had been maintained, may be added the name +of the late Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi. Mary +Putnam secured her preliminary medical education +in the early '60's, and found herself keenly +troubled and dissatisfied at the inadequacy of the +<a name="Page_256"></a>facilities extended to women for the study of +medicine. She insisted that if women practitioners +were to be, as she expressed it, "turned +loose" upon the community with license to practise, +they should, not only as a matter of justice +to themselves but of protection for the women +and children whose lives they would have in their +hands, be properly qualified.</p> +<p>At the time in question, the medical profession +took the ground that women might enjoy the +benefit of a little medical education but they were +denied the facilities for any thorough training or +for any research work. Mary Putnam secured +her graduate degree from the great medical school +of the University of Paris, being the first woman +who had been admitted to the school since the +fourteenth century. Returning after six years +of thorough training, she did much during the +remaining years of her life to secure and to maintain +for women physicians the highest possible +standard of training and of practice. It was +natural that with this experience of the requirement +of equal facilities for women in her own +work, she should always have been a believer in +the extension of equal facilities for any citizen's +work for which, after experience, women might +be found qualified. She was, therefore, an ardent +advocate of equal suffrage.</p> +<p>One needs but recall the admirable intellectual +work of women to-day to wonder at the imbecility +of those who assert that women are intellectually +<a name="Page_257"></a>the inferiors of men. Madame Curie in science, +Miss Tarbell in political and economic history, +Miss Jane Addams in sociological writings and +practice, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw in the +ministry, Mrs. Hetty Green in business, are a +few examples of women whose mental ability +ought to bring a blush to the Old Guard. Mrs. +Harriman and Mrs. Sage, who manage properties +of many millions, are denied the privilege of +voting in regard to the expenditure of their taxes; +but every ignorant immigrant can cast a vote, +thanks to the doctrine that the political acumen +of a man, however degraded, is superior to that +of a woman, however great her genius—an admirable +obedience to the saw in Ecclesiasticus +that the badness of men is better than the goodness +of women. Let me quote again from Professor +Thomas: "The men have said that women +are not intelligent enough to vote, but the women +have replied that more of honesty than of intelligence +is needed in politics at present, and that +women certainly do not represent the most ignorant +portion of the population. They claim that +voting is a relatively simple matter anyway, that +political freedom 'is nothing but the control of +those who do make politics their business by those +who do not,' and that they have enough intelligence +'to decide whether they are properly governed, +and whom they will be governed by.' +They point out also that already, without the +ballot, they are instructing men how to vote and +<a name="Page_258"></a>teaching them how to run a city; that women have +to journey to the legislature at every session to +instruct members and committees at legislative +hearings, and that it is absurd that women who +are capable of instructing men how to vote should +not be allowed to vote themselves. To the suggestion +that they would vote like their husbands +and that so there would be no change in the political +situation, women admit that they would +sometimes vote like their husbands, because their +husbands sometimes vote right; but ex-Chief-Justice +Fisher of Wyoming says: 'When the +Republicans nominate a bad man and the Democrats +a good one, the Republican women do not +hesitate a moment to "scratch" the bad and substitute +the good. It is just so with the Democrats; +hence we almost always have a mixture of office-holders. +I have seen the effects of female suffrage, +and, instead of being a means of encouragement +to fraud and corruption, it tends greatly to purify +elections and to promote better government.' +Now, 'scratching' is the most difficult feature of +the art of voting, and if women have mastered +this, they are doing very well. Furthermore, the +English suffragettes have completely outgeneralled +the professional politicians. They discovered +that no cause can get recognition in politics unless +it is brought to the attention, and that John Bull +in particular will not begin to pay attention 'until, +you stand on your head to talk to him.' They +regretted to do this, but in doing it they secured +<a name="Page_259"></a>the attention and interest of all England. They +then followed a relentless policy of opposing the +election of any candidate of the party in power. +The Liberal men had been playing with the Liberal +women, promising support and then laughing the +matter off. But they are now reduced to an +appeal to the maternal instinct of the women. +They say it is unloving of them to oppose their +own kind. Politics is a poor game, but this is +politics."</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">V.</span> The last objection I +would call the <i>moral</i>. +It embraces such arguments as, that woman is too +impulsive, too easily swayed by her emotions to +hold responsible positions, that the world is very +evil and slippery, and that she must therefore +constantly have man to protect her—a pious duty, +which he avows solemnly it has ever been his +special delight to perform. The preceding pages +are a commentary on the manner in which man +has discharged this duty. In Delaware, for instance, +the age of legal consent was until 1889 +seven years. The institution of Chivalry, to take +another example, is usually praised for the high +estimation and protection it secured for women; +yet any one who has read its literature knows +that, in practice, it did nothing of the sort. The +noble lord who was so gallant to his lady love—who, +by the way, was frequently the wife of another +man—had very little scruple about seducing +a maid of low degree. The same gallantry +is conspicuous in the Letters of Lord Chesterfield, +<a name="Page_260"></a>beneath whose unctuous courtesy the beast of +sensuality is always leering.</p> +<p>In the past the main function of woman outside +of the rearing of children has been to satisfy +the carnal appetite of man, to prepare his food, +to minister to his physical comfort; she was +barred from participation in the intellectual. +In order to hold her to these bonds a Divine Sanction +was sought. The Mohammedan found it in +the Koran; the Christian, in the Bible—just as +slavery was justified repeatedly from the story +of Ham, just as the Stuarts and the Bourbons believed +firmly that they were the special favourites +of God.</p> +<p>Strangely enough, men who are so sensitive +about the moral welfare of women will visit a +dance hall where women are degraded nightly, +and will allow their daughters to marry "reformed" +rakes. Men will not permit any mention +of sexual matters in their homes, and will +let their children get their information on the +street; and all for the very simple reason that +they are afraid the truth will hurt, will make +people think. Men have been remarkably sensitive +about having women speak in public for their +rights; but they watch with zest a woman screaming +nonsense on the stage.</p> +<p>It is quite possible that many women are swayed +too easily by their emotions. We must recollect, +however, that for some thousands of years woman +has been carefully drilled to believe that she is an +<a name="Page_261"></a>emotional creature. If a dozen people conspire +to tell a man that he is looking badly, it is not +unlikely that he will feel ill. Certainly Florence +Nightingale and Clara Barton exhibited no lack +of firmness on the shambles of battlefields; and +there are few men living who cannot recall instances +of women who have, in the face of disaster +and evil fortune, shown a steady perseverance and +will-power in earning a living for themselves and +their children that men have not surpassed.</p> +<p>Having in the preceding pages considered the +five capital objections to the concession of equal +suffrage, I shall now, in accordance with my plan, +say something of the much-mooted question of +the superiority or inferiority of one sex to the other. +It might be concluded from the foregoing account +that I see little difference in the aptitudes and +powers of the sexes physically, morally, or intellectually. +That does not necessarily follow. +It is possible to conceive of each sex as the complement +of the other; and between complements +there can be no question either of superiority or +of inferiority. The great historian of European +Morals has analysed the constitutional differences +of the sexes as he conceived them; and I may +quote his remarks as pertinent to my theme. +Lecky writes as follows<a name="FNanchor_422"></a><a + href="#Footnote_422"><sup>[422]</sup></a>:</p> +<p>"Physically, men have the indisputable super<a name="Page_262"></a>iority +in strength, and women in beauty. Intellectually, +a certain inferiority of the female sex +can hardly be denied when we remember how +almost exclusively the foremost places in every +department of science, literature, and art have +been occupied by men, how infinitesimally small +is the number of women who have shown in any +form the very highest order of genius, how many +of the greatest men have achieved their greatness +in defiance of the most adverse circumstances, +and how completely women have failed in obtaining +the first position, even in music or painting, +for the cultivation of which their circumstances +would appear most propitious. It is as impossible +to find a female Raphael, or a female Handel, as a +female Shakespeare or Newton. Women are intellectually +more desultory and volatile than men; +they are more occupied with particular instances +than with general principles; they judge rather +by intuitive perceptions than by deliberate reasoning +or past experience. They are, however, +usually superior to men in nimbleness and rapidity +of thought, and in the gift of tact or the power of +seizing speedily and faithfully the finer inflections +of feeling, and they have therefore often attained +very great eminence as conversationalists, as letter-writers, +as actresses, and as novelists.</p> +<p>"Morally, the general superiority of women over +men is, I think, unquestionable. If we take the +somewhat coarse and inadequate criterion of police +statistics, we find that, while the male and +<a name="Page_263"></a>female populations are nearly the same in +number, +the crimes committed by men are usually rather +more than five times as numerous as those committed +by women; and although it may be justly +observed that men, as the stronger sex, and the +sex upon whom the burden of supporting the +family is thrown, have more temptations than +women, it must be remembered, on the other hand, +that extreme poverty which verges upon starvation +is most common among women, whose +means of livelihood are most restricted, and whose +earnings are smallest and most precarious. Self-sacrifice +is the most conspicuous element of a +virtuous and religious character, and it is certainly +far less common among men than among women, +whose whole lives are usually spent in yielding to +the will and consulting the pleasures of another. +There are two great departments of virtue: the +impulsive, or that which springs spontaneously +from the emotions, and the deliberative, or that +which is performed in obedience to the sense of +duty; and in both of these I imagine women are +superior to men. Their sensibility is greater, +they are more chaste both in thought and act, more +tender to the erring, more compassionate to the +suffering, more affectionate to all about them.... +In active courage women are inferior to men. In +the courage of endurance they are commonly +their superiors.... In the ethic of intellect +they are decidedly inferior. To repeat an expression +I have already employed, women very rarely +<a name="Page_264"></a>love truth, though they love passionately what +they call 'the truth' or opinions they have received +from others, and hate vehemently those +who differ from them. They are little capable of +impartiality or doubt; their thinking is chiefly a +mode of feeling; though very generous in their +acts, they are rarely generous in their opinions.... +They are less capable than men of perceiving +qualifying circumstances, of admitting +the existence of elements of good in systems to +which they are opposed, of distinguishing the +personal character of an opponent from the +opinions he maintains. Men lean most to justice, +and women to mercy. Men are most addicted +to intemperance and brutality, women to frivolity +and jealousy. Men excel in energy, self-reliance, +perseverance, and magnanimity, women in humility, +gentleness, modesty, and endurance.... +Their religious or devotional realisations are incontestably +more vivid.... But though more +intense, the sympathies of women are commonly +less wide than those of men. Their imaginations +individualise more, their affections are, in consequence, +concentrated rather on leaders than on +causes.... In politics, their enthusiasm is +more naturally loyalty than patriotism. In history, +they are even more inclined than men to +dwell exclusively upon biographical incidents or +characteristics as distinguished from the march +of general causes."</p> +<p>Experience, by which alone mankind has ever +<a name="Page_265"></a>learned or can learn, will show how far the +characteristics +enumerated by Lecky are innate and +how far they have been acquired in the course of +ages by certain habits of belief and education.</p> +<p>The securing of citizens' rights for woman will +of necessity depend on the attitude of society. +There may be numerous laws for her relief on the +statute books; but if society frowns on her appearance +in court, it will be only in exceptional +cases that she will appeal to the courts. To one +who is familiar with the records of daily life a +hundred years ago there is little doubt that conjugal +infidelity on the part of the husband was +more flagrant then than it is to-day; but there +were infinitely fewer divorces. The reason for +this is simply that public sentiment on the subject +has changed. A century ago, a divorced +woman could do nothing; the wife was exhorted +to bear her husband's faults with meekness; +and the expansion of industry had not yet opened +to her that opportunity of making her own living +which she now possesses in a hundred ways. +Women were entirely dependent on men; and the +men knew it. To-day they are not so sure.</p> +<p>The old conception of woman's position was +subjection, based on mental and physical inferiority +and supported by Biblical arguments. The +newer conception is that of a complement, in +which neither inferiority nor superiority finds +place. The old conception was based, like every +<a name="Page_266"></a>institution of the times, on fear. Men were +warned against heresy by being reminded of the +tortures of hell fire; against crime by appealing +to their dread of the gallows. Between the death +of Anne and the reign of George III one hundred +and eighty-eight capital offences were added to +the penal code; and crime at once increased to an +amazing degree. In a system that is founded on +fear, when once that fear is removed—as it +inevitably will be with the growth of enlightenment—there +remains no basis of action, no incentive +to good. It has been tried for centuries +and has yielded only Star Chambers and Spanish +Inquisitions. It is time that we try a new method. +An appeal to the sense of <i>fair play</i>, an appeal +to the sense of duty and of natural affection +may yield immeasurably superior results. It has +been my experience and personal observation +that the standard of honour in our non-sectarian +schools, where the <i>fair play</i> spirit is most insisted +on, is vastly greater than it was in the old +sectarian institutions where boys were told morning, +noon, and night that they would go to hell +if they did not behave.</p> +<p>The new spirit is not going to be accepted at +once by society. There must first be some wailing +and much gnashing of teeth; and the monster, +custom, which all sense doth eat, will still for a +time be antagonistic as it has been in the past. +"In no society has life ever been completely controlled +by the reason," remarks Professor Thomas, +"<a name="Page_267"></a>but mainly by the instincts and the habits and +the customs growing out of these. Speaking in +a general way, it may be said that all conduct +both of men and animals tends to be right rather +than wrong. They do not know why they behave +in such and such ways, but their ancestors +behaved in those ways and survival is the guaranty +that the behaviour was good. We must admit +that within the scope of their lives the animals +behave with almost unerring propriety. Their +behaviour is simple and unvarying, but they +make fewer mistakes than ourselves. The difficulty +in their condition is, that having little +power of changing their behaviour they have little +chance of improvement. Now, in human societies, +and already among gregarious animals, one +of the main conditions of survival was common +sentiment and behaviour. So long as defence of +life and preying on outsiders were main concerns +of society, unanimity and conformity had the +same value which still attaches to military discipline +in warfare and to team work in our sports. +Morality therefore became identified with uniformity. +It was actually better to work upon +some system, however bad, than to work on none +at all, and early society had no place for the dissenter. +Changes did take place, for man had the +power of communicating his experiences through +speech and the same power of imitation which +we show in the adoption of fashions, but these +changes took place with almost imperceptible +<a name="Page_268"></a>slowness, or if they did not, those who proposed +them were considered sinners and punished with +death or obloquy.</p> +<p>"And it has never made any difference how +bad the existing order of things might be. Those +who attempted to reform it were always viewed +with suspicion. Consequently our practices usually +run some decades or centuries behind our +theories and history is even full of cases where +the theory was thoroughly dead from the standpoint +of reason before it began to do its work +in society. A determined attitude of resistance +to change may therefore be classed almost with +the instincts, for it is not a response to the reason +alone, but is very powerfully bound up with the +emotions which have their seat in the spinal +cord.</p> +<p>"It is true that this adhesion to custom is more +absolute and astonishing in the lower races and +in the less educated classes, but it would be difficult +to point out a single case in history where a +new doctrine has not been met with bitter resistance. +We justly regard learning and freedom +of thought and investigation as precious, and we +popularly think of Luther and the Reformation as +standing at the beginning of the movement toward +these, but Luther himself had no faith in +'the light of reason' and he hated as heartily as +any papal dogmatist the 'new learning' of Erasmus +and Hutten.... We are even forced to +realise that the law of habit continues to do +<a name="Page_269"></a>its perfect work in a strangely resentful or +apathetic manner even when there is no moral +issue at stake.... Up to the year 1816, the +best device for the application of electricity to +telegraphy had involved a separate wire for each +letter of the alphabet, but in that year Francis +Ronalds constructed a successful line making +use of a single wire. Realising the importance of +his invention, he attempted to get the British +government to take it up, but was informed that +'telegraphs of any kind are now wholly unnecessary, +and no other than the one in use will be +adopted.'"</p> +<p>The reader will doubtless be able to add from +his own experience and observation examples +which will support Professor Thomas's admirable +account of the power of custom. Among many +barbarous tribes certain foods, like eggs, are +<i>taboo</i>; no one knows why they should not be eaten; +but tradition says their use produces bad results, +and one who presumes to taste them is put to +death. To-day, we believe ourselves rather highly +civilised; but the least observation of society +must compel us to acknowledge that <i>taboo</i> is +still a vital power in a multitude of matters.</p> +<p>There is a still more forcible opposition to a recasting +of the status of women by those men who +have beheld no complete regeneration of society +through the extension of the franchise in four +of our States. Curiously oblivious of the fact +that partial regeneration through the instru<a name="Page_270"></a>mentality +of women is something attained, they +take this as a working argument for the uselessness +of extending the suffrage. They point to +other evils that have followed and tell you that if +this is the result of the emancipation of women, +they will have none of it. For example, there +can be no doubt that one may see from time to +time the pseudo-intellectual woman. She affects +an interest in literature, attends lectures on +Browning and Emerson, shows an academic interest +in slum work, and presents, on the whole, a +selfishness or an egotism which repels. There +never has been a revolution in society, however +beneficial eventually, which did not bring at +least some evil in its train. I cannot do better +in this connection than to quote Lord Macaulay's +splendid words (from the essay on Milton): "If +it were possible that a people, brought up under +an intolerant and arbitrary system, could subvert +that system without acts of cruelty and folly, +half the objections to despotic power would be +removed. We should, in that case, be compelled +to acknowledge that it at least produces no pernicious +effects on the intellectual and moral character +of a people. We deplore the outrages which +accompany revolutions. But the more violent +the outrages, the more assured we feel that a +revolution was necessary. The violence of these +outrages will always be proportioned to the ferocity +and ignorance of the people; and the ferocity +and ignorance of the people will be proportioned +<a name="Page_271"></a>to the oppression and degradation under which +they have been accustomed to live. Thus it was +in our civil war. The rulers in the church and +state reaped only what they had sown. They +had prohibited free discussion—they had done +their best to keep the people unacquainted with +their duties and their rights. The retribution was +just and natural. If they suffered from popular +ignorance, it was because they had themselves +taken away the key to knowledge. If they were +assailed with blind fury, it was because they had +exacted an equally blind submission.</p> +<p>"It is the character of such revolutions that we +always see the worst of them at first. Till men +have been for some time free, they know not how +to use their freedom. The natives of wine-countries +are always sober. In climates where wine +is a rarity, intemperance abounds. A newly-liberated +people may be compared to a northern +army encamped on the Rhine or the Xeres. It is +said that when soldiers in such a situation first +find themselves able to indulge without restraint +in such a rare and expensive luxury, nothing +is to be seen but intoxication. Soon, however, +plenty teaches discretion; and after wine has been +for a few months their daily fare, they become +more temperate than they had ever been in their +own country. In the same manner, the final and +permanent fruits of liberty are wisdom, moderation, +and mercy. Its immediate effects are often +atrocious crimes, conflicting errors, skepticism on +<a name="Page_272"></a>points the most clear, dogmatism on points the +most mysterious. It is just at this crisis that +its enemies love to exhibit it. They pull down +the scaffolding from the half-finished edifice; they +point to the flying dust, the falling bricks, the +comfortless rooms, the frightful irregularity of +the whole appearance; and then ask in scorn where +the promised splendour and comfort are to be +found? If such miserable sophisms were to prevail, +there never would be a good house or a +good government in the world.... There is +only one cure for the evils which newly acquired +freedom produces—and that cure is freedom. +When a prisoner leaves his cell, he cannot bear +the light of day—he is unable to discriminate +colours or to recognise faces. But the remedy +is not to remand him into his dungeon, but to +accustom him to the rays of the sun. The +blaze of truth and liberty may at first dazzle +and bewilder nations which have become half-blind +in the house of bondage. But let them +gaze on, and they will soon be able to bear it. +In a few years men learn to reason. The extreme +violence of opinion subsides. Hostile theories +correct each other. The scattered elements +of truth cease to conflict, and begin to coalesce. +And at length a system of justice and order is +educed out of the chaos.</p> +<p>"Many politicians of our time are in the habit +of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, +that no people ought to be free till they are +<a name="Page_273"></a>fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy +of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to +go into the water till he had learnt to swim. If men +are to wait for liberty till they become wise and +good in slavery, they may indeed wait for ever."</p> +<p>The speedy dissolution of family and state was +prophesied by men when first a girl took a public +examination in geometry; whenever women have +been given complete control of their own property; +when they have been received into the professions +and industries; and now in like manner +people dread the condition of things that they +imagine might follow if women are given the right +to vote and to hold office. We may well believe, +with Lecky, that there are "certain eternal moral +landmarks which never can be removed." But +no matter what our views may be of the destinies, +characteristics, functions, or limitations of the +sex, certain reforms are indispensable before woman +and, through her, family life can reach their +highest development. Of these reforms I shall +speak briefly and with them close my history.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">I.</span> The double standard of +morality for the +sexes must gradually be abolished.<a name="FNanchor_423"></a><a + href="#Footnote_423"><sup>[423]</sup></a> Of all the +<a name="Page_274"></a>sad commentaries on Christian nations none is so +pathetic or so tragical as the fact that for nineteen +centuries men have been tacitly and openly allowed, +at least before marriage, unrestrained +liberty to indulge in sexual vice and intemperance, +while one false step on the part of the woman +has condemned her to social obloquy and, +frequently, to a life on the street. This strange +system, a blasphemy against the Christ who +suffered death in order to purify the earth, has +had its defenders not merely among the uneducated +who do not think, but even among +the most acute intellects. The philosopher +Hume justifies it by commenting on the vastly +greater consequences attendant on vice in women +than in men; divines like Jeremy Taylor +have encouraged it by urging women meekly +to bear the sins of their husbands. This subject +is one of the great <i>taboos</i> in modern society. +Let me exhort the reader to go to +any physician and get from him the statistics +of gonorrhea and syphilis which he has met +in his practice; let him learn of the children +born blind and of wives rendered invalid +for life because their husbands once sowed +a crop of wild oats with the sanction of society; +let him read the Report of the Committee +of Fifteen in New York (G.P. Putnam's +Sons, 1902) on <i>The Social Evil</i>, the records +of the Watch and Ward Society in Boston, +or the recent report of the special jury in +<a name="Page_275"></a>New York which investigated the "White Slave +Traffic."<a name="FNanchor_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424"><sup>[424]</sup></a></p> +<p>The plain facts are not pleasant. A system +which has been in vogue from the beginning of +history cannot be changed in a decade; but the +desired state of things will be more speedily +achieved and immediate good will be accomplished +by three reforms which may be begun at +once—have begun, in fact. In the first place, the +"age of legal consent" should be uniformly +twenty-one. In most States to-day it is fourteen +or sixteen.<a name="FNanchor_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425"><sup>[425]</sup></a> +To the ordinary mind it is a self-evident +proposition that a girl of those ages, the +slippery period of puberty, can but seldom realise +what she is doing when she submits herself to the +lust of scoundrels. But the minds of legislators +pass understanding; and when, a few years ago, +a woman in the Legislature of Colorado proposed +to have the age of consent raised from sixteen to +twenty-one, such a storm of protest came from her +male colleagues that the measure had to be abandoned. +In the second place the public should be +made better acquainted with the facts of prostitution. +When people once realise thoroughly +what sickness and social ulcers result from the +<a name="Page_276"></a>presence in the city of New York of 100,000 +debauched +women (and the estimate is conservative)—when +they begin to reflect that their +children must grow up in such surroundings, then +perhaps they will question the expediency of the +double standard of morality and will insist that +what is wrong for a woman is wrong for a man. +It is a fact, to be borne carefully in mind, that +the vast majority of prostitutes begin their career +below the age of <i>eighteen</i> and usually at the +instigation of adult <i>men</i>, who take advantage of +their ignorance or of their poverty. If the miserable +Thaw trial did nothing else, it at least once +more called public attention to conditions which +every intelligent man knows have existed for +years. Something can also be done by statute. +New York has made adultery a crime; and the +State of Washington requires a physical examination +of the parties before marriage. In the third +place, physicians should take more pains to educate +men to the knowledge that a continent life +is not a detriment to health—the contrary belief +being more widely spread than is usually suspected.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">II.</span> In the training of +women, care should be +taken to impress upon them that they are not +toys or spoiled children, but fellow-citizens, devoted +to the common task of advancing the ideals +of the nation to their goal.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The woman's cause is man's; they rise or sink</p> +<p>Together, dwarf'd or godlike, bond or free:</p> +<a name="Page_277"></a> +<p>If she be small, slight-natured, miserable,</p> +<p>How shall men grow?</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>TENNYSON, <i>The Princess</i>.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>A Being breathing thoughtful breath,</p> +<p>A Traveller between life and death;</p> +<p>The reason firm, the temperate will,</p> +<p>Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;</p> +<p>A perfect Woman, nobly planned,</p> +<p>To warn, to comfort, and command;</p> +<p>And yet a Spirit still, and bright</p> +<p>With something of an angel light.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>WORDSWORTH.</p> +<p>Towards a higher conception of their duties, +women are steadily advancing. It often happens +that the history of words will give a hint of the +progress of civilisation. Such a story is told by +the use of <i>lady</i> and <i>woman</i>. Not many decades +ago the use of the word <i>woman</i> in referring to +respectable members of the sex was interpreted +as a lack of courtesy. To-day, women prefer +to be called <i>women</i>.</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">III.</span> Women should be given +the full right to +enter any profession or business which they may +desire. As John Stuart Mill says:</p> +<p>"The proper sphere for any human being is +the highest sphere that being is capable of attaining; +and this cannot be ascertained without complete +liberty of choice."</p> +<p>"We are, as always, in a period of transition," +remarks Mr. Björkman,<a name="FNanchor_426"></a><a + href="#Footnote_426"><sup>[426]</sup></a> "the old forms are +<a name="Page_278"></a>falling away from us on every side. Concerning +the new ones we are still uncertain and divided. +Whether woman shall vote or not, is not the main +issue. She will do so sooner or later if it suits +her. No, the imperative question confronting us +is this: What are we to do that her life once +more may be full and useful as it used to +be? That question cannot be answered by anybody +but herself. Furthermore, it can only be +answered on the basis of actual experience. And +urged onward by her never-failing power of intuition, +woman has for once taken to experimenting. +She has, if you please, become temporarily +catabolic. But it means merely that she is seeking +for new means to fulfil her nature, not for +ways of violating it. And the best thing—nay, +the only thing—man can do to help her is to stand +aside and keep his faith, both in her and in life. +Whether it be the franchise, or the running of +railroads, or public offices, that her eager hands +and still more eager soul should happen to reach +out for, he must give her free way. All she +wants is to find herself, and for this purpose +she must try everything that once was foreign +to her being: the trial over, she will instinctively +and unfailingly pick out the right new things +to do, and will do them."</p> +<p>The opening up of professions and industries to +woman has been of incalculable benefit to her. +Of old the unmarried woman could do little except +sit by the fire and spin or make clothing for +<a name="Page_279"></a>the South Sea Islanders. Her limited activities +caused a corresponding influence on her character. +People who have nothing to do will naturally +find an outlet for their superfluous energy in +gossip and all the petty things of life; if isolated +from a share in what the world is doing, they will +no less naturally develop eccentricities of character +and will grow old prematurely. To-day, by being +allowed a part in civic and national movements, +women can "get out of themselves"—a powerful +therapeutic agent. Mrs. Ella Young, a woman of +sixty, was last year made Superintendent of the +great Public School System of Chicago. Fräulein +Anna Heinrichsdorff is the first woman in Germany +to get an engineer's diploma, very recently +bestowed upon her; an "excellent" mark was given +Fräulein Heinrichsdorff in every part of her examination +by the Berlin Polytechnic Institute. +Miss Jean Gordon, the only factory inspector +in Louisiana, is at present waging a strong fight +against the attempt to exempt "first-class" +theatres from the child-labour law. Mrs. Nellie +Upham, of Colorado, is President and General +Manager of the Gold Divide Mining, Milling, +and Tunnel Company of Colorado and directs +300 workmen. These are a few examples out of +some thousands of what woman is doing.<a name="FNanchor_427"></a><a + href="#Footnote_427"><sup>[427]</sup></a> And +<a name="Page_280"></a>yet there are men who do not believe she should +do anything but wash dishes and scrub.</p> +<p>Much more serious is the glaring discrepancy +in the wages paid to men and to women. For +doing precisely the same work as a man and often +doing it better, woman receives a much lower +<a name="Page_281"></a>wage. The reasons are several and specious. +We are told that men have families to support, +that women do not have such expensive tastes +as men, that they are incapable of doing as much +as men, that by granting them equal wages one +of the inducements to marry is removed. These +arguments are generally used with the greatest +gravity by bachelors. If men have families to +support, women by the hundreds support brothers +and sisters and weak parents. That they are +incapable of doing as much sounds unconvincing +<a name="Page_282"></a>to one who has seen the work of sweat-shops. The +argument that men have more expensive tastes +to satisfy is too feeble to deserve attention. +Finally, when men argue that women should be +forced to marry by giving them smaller wages, +they are simply reverting to the time-honoured +idea that the goal of every women's ambition +should be fixed as matrimony. If the low wages +of women produced no further consequence, one +might dismiss the matter as not of essential importance; +but inadequate pay has been found too +frequently to be a direct cause of prostitution. +No girl can well keep body and soul together on +four dollars a week and some business managers +have been known to inform their women employees +with frankness that a "gentleman friend" is a +necessary adjunct to a limited income.</p> +<p>The women who suffer most from low wages +are probably the teachers in our primary schools. +They start usually on a salary of about three +hundred and fifty dollars a year. For this each +teacher performs all the minute labour and bears +all the nervous strain of instructing sixty pupils +six and a half hours a day and of correcting dozens +of papers far into the night. And when crime +increases or the pupils are not universally successful +in business, the school teacher has the +added pleasure of getting blamed for it, being +told that she ought to have trained them better. +These facts lend some colour to Mark Twain's +sage reflection that God at first made idiots—<a name="Page_283"></a>that +was for practice; then he made school +boards.</p> +<p>One of the most interesting examples of recent +evolution in the industrial status of women is +the decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois in the +so-called Ritchie Case. The last Legislature of +Illinois passed a law limiting to ten hours the +working day of women in factories and stores. +Now, as far back as 1893, the Legislature had +passed a similar law limiting woman's labour to +<i>eight</i> hours; but the Supreme Court in 1895 declared +it unconstitutional on the ground that it +was an arbitrary and unreasonable interference +with the right of women to contract for the sale +of their labour. When, therefore, this year a +ten-hour bill was tried, W.C. Ritchie, who had +secured the nullification of the act of 1893, again +protested. The decision of the Court, rendered +April 21, 1910, is an excellent proof of the great +advance made within two decades in the position +of women. Reversing completely its judgment of +1895, the Court left far behind it mere technicalities +of law and found a sanction for its change +of front in the experience of humanity and of common +sense. These are its conclusions:</p> +<p>"It is known to all men, and of what we know +as men we cannot profess to be ignorant as judges:</p> +<p>"That woman's physical structure and the performance +of maternal functions place her at a +great disadvantage in the battle of life.</p> +<p>"That while a man can work for more than ten +<a name="Page_284"></a>hours a day without injury to himself, a woman, +especially when the burdens of motherhood are +upon her, cannot.</p> +<p>"That while a man can work standing upon +his feet for more than ten hours a day, day +after day, without injury to himself, a woman +cannot.</p> +<p>"That to require a woman to stand upon her +feet for more than ten hours in any one day and to +perform severe manual labour while thus standing +has the effect of impairing her health.</p> +<p>"And as weakly and sickly women cannot be +the mothers of vigorous children, it is of the greatest +importance to the public that the State take +such measures as may be necessary to protect +its women from the consequences produced by +long-continued manual labour in those occupations +which tend to break them down physically.</p> +<p>"It would seem obvious, therefore, that legislation +which limits the number of hours which +women shall be permitted to work to ten hours in +a single day in such employments as are carried +on in mechanical establishments, factories, and +laundries would tend to preserve the health of +women and assure the production of vigorous +offspring by them and would conduce directly to +the health, morals, and general welfare of the +public, and that such legislation would fall clearly +within the police powers of the State."</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">IV.</span> All phenomena that +concern family life +should be carefully studied and their bearing on +<a name="Page_285"></a>the state ascertained as exactly as possible. +There is no subject, for example, from which such +wild conclusions are drawn as the matter of divorce. +The average moralist, but more particularly the +clergy, seeing the fairly astonishing increase in +divorce during the last decade, jump to the conclusion +that family life is decadent and immorality +flagrantly on the increase. They point to +the indubitable fact that a century ago divorces +were insignificant in number; and they infer that +morality was then on a much higher level than it +is now. Such alarmists neglect certain elementary +facts. The flippant manner in which marriage +is treated by the Restoration dramatists and by +novelists of the 18th century, the callous sexual +morality revealed in diaries and in the conversations +of men like Johnson alone are sufficient to +suggest the need of a readjustment of one's view +regarding the standard of morality in the past. +A century ago it was the duty of a gentleman to +drink to excess; and it was presumed that a guest +had not enjoyed his dinner unless he was at least +comfortably the worse for liquor. This view of +drunkenness is admirably depicted in Dickens's +<i>Pickwick Papers</i>, where intoxication is treated +throughout as something merely humorous.</p> +<p>There were just as many unhappy marriages +formerly in proportion to the population as there +are to-day; but the wife was held effectually from +application for a divorce not only by rigid laws +but by the sentiment of society, which ostracised +<a name="Page_286"></a>a divorced woman, and furthermore by her lack +of means and of opportunity for earning an independent +livelihood. To-day women are not +inclined to tolerate a husband who is brutal or +debauched. Alarmists make a mistake when +they place too much emphasis on the seeming +triviality of the reasons, justifying their course, +which wives advance when applying for a separation. +For example, the phrase "incompatibility +of temperament" is in a great number of cases +merely a euphemism for something much worse. +The clergy will counsel a woman to bear with what +they call Christian resignation a husband addicted +to drink or scarred by the diseases that +are a consequence of sin. Abstractly considered, +this may conceivably be good advice. But viewed +in a common-sense way it is the duty of a woman +to reflect on the consequences of conceiving children +from such a man; and the researches of physicians +will furnish her with incontrovertible facts +regarding the impaired health of the offspring of +such a union. A law which would permit of no +divorce under such conditions, instead of benefiting +the state, would injure it in its most +vital asset—healthy children, the coming citizens. +Doubtless the divorce laws in many States are +too lax. But sweeping generalities based on +theory will not remedy matters. Divorce may +simply be a symptom, not a disease; a revolt +against unjust conditions; and the way to do away +with divorce or reduce the frequency of it is to +<a name="Page_287"></a>remedy the evil social conditions which, in a +great many instances, are responsible.</p> +<p>The fact is, the institution of marriage is going +through a crisis. The old view that marriage +is a complete merging of the wife in the husband +and that the latter is absolute monarch of his +home is being questioned. When a man with +this idea and a woman with a far different one +marry, there is likely to be a clash. Marriage +as a real partnership based on equality of goods +and of interests finds an increasing number of +advocates. There is great reason to believe +that the issue will be only for the good and that +from doubt and revolt a more enduring ideal will +arise, based on a sure foundation of perfect +understanding.</p> +<br> + +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415">[415]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See an excellent article on "The American Woman" by +Miss Ida M. Tarbell, in the <i>American Magazine</i> for April, 1910.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416">[416]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In 1893. "Be it resolved by the Second Legislature of the +State of Wyoming: +</p> +<p>"That the possession and exercise of suffrage by the women of +Wyoming for the past quarter of a century has wrought no +harm and has done great good in many ways; that it has largely +aided in banishing crime, pauperism, and vice from this State, +and that without any violent and oppressive legislation," etc.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417">[417]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Women in Colorado have been of greatest service in establishing +the following laws: +</p> +<p>1—Establishing a State Home for dependent children, three +of the five members of the board to be women. +</p> +<p>2—Requiring that at least three of the six members of the +county visitors shall be women. +</p> +<p>3—Making mothers joint guardians of their children with the +fathers. +</p> +<p>4—Raising the age of protection for girls to 18 years. +</p> +<p>5—Establishing a State Industrial School for girls. There had +long been one for boys, but the women could not get one for +girls until they had the vote. +</p> +<p>6—Removing the emblems from the Australian ballots. +This is a little, indirect step toward educational qualifications +for voting. +</p> +<p>7—Establishing the indeterminate sentence for prisoners. +</p> +<p>8—Requiring one physician on the board of the Insane Asylum +to be a woman. +</p> +<p>9—Establishing truant schools. +</p> +<p>10—Making better provision for the care of the feeble-minded. +</p> +<p>11—For tree preservation. +</p> +<p>12—For the inspection of private eleemosynary institutions by +the State Board of Charities. +</p> +<p>13—Various steps toward prevention of cruelty to animals. +</p> +<p>14—Providing that foreign life and accident insurance companies, +when sued, must pay the costs. +</p> +<p>15—Establishing a juvenile court. +</p> +<p>16—Making education compulsory for all children between +the ages of 8 and 16, except those who are ill or those who are +14 and have completed the eighth grade, or those whose parents +need their help and support. +</p> +<p>17—Making the mother and father joint heirs of a deceased +child. +</p> +<p>18—Providing for union high schools. +</p> +<p>19—Establishing a State travelling library commission. +</p> +<p>20—Providing that any person employing a child under 14 +in any mine, mill, or factory be punished by imprisonment in +addition to a fine. +</p> +<p>21—Requiring the joint signature of the husband and wife to +a mortgage of a homestead. +</p> +<p>22—Forbidding the insuring of the lives of children under 10. +</p> +<p>23—Forbidding children of 16 or under to work more than six +hours a day in any mill, factory, or other occupation that may +be unhealthful. +</p> +<p>24—Making it a criminal offence to contribute to the delinquency +of children—the parental responsibility act. +</p> +<p>25—Making it a misdemeanour to fail to support aged or infirm +parents. +</p> +<p>26—Providing that no woman shall work more than eight +hours a day at work requiring her to be on her feet. +</p> +<p>27—Restricting the time for shooting doves. +</p> +<p>28—Abolishing the binding out of girls committed to the Industrial +School until the age of 21. +</p> +<p>29—A pure food law in harmony with the national law.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418">[418]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In the <i>Boston Herald</i> for June 4, 1910.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419">[419]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Quoted in the <i>New York Times</i> of Jan. 9, 1910.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420">[420]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> See, for example, Lyman Abbott in the <i>Outlook</i> for Feb. 19, +1910.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421">[421]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>American Magazine</i>, July, 1909.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422">[422]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> <i>History of European Morals</i>, vol. ii, pp. 379 and following. +New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1869.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423">[423]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Note, for example, that in Maryland a man can get a divorce +if his wife has had sexual intercourse before marriage; <i>but a wife +cannot get a divorce from her husband if he has been guilty of the +same thing</i>. In Texas, adultery on the part of the wife entitles +the husband to a divorce; but the wife can obtain divorce from +her husband only if he has <i>abandoned</i> her and <i>lived</i> in +adultery +with another woman.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424">[424]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> On Jan. 12, 1910, a bill was introduced in the House of +Representatives to check the "White Slave Traffic" by providing +a penalty of ten years' imprisonment and a fine of five +thousand dollars for any one who engages in it.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425">[425]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In some it is even lower; <i>ten</i> in Georgia and Mississippi +for +example.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426">[426]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> In <i>Collier's Weekly</i>, Feb. 5, 1910.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427">[427]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Note what the officers of the Chicago Juvenile Protective +Association, +many of whom are women, accomplished in 1909-1910. +These women are fighting the agencies which make for juvenile +crime mostly and each officer has a specified "beat" to patrol. +Last year their work amounted to the following: +</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<table summary="" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" + style="width: 600px; height: 700px;" border="1"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td>Complaints of selling liquors to minors investigated</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 295</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Complaints of selling tobacco to minors investigated</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 52</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Complaints of selling obscene postcards investigated</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 49</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Complaints of poolrooms investigated</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 203</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Complaints of dance halls investigated </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">92</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Five and ten cent theatres visited</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 1,013</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Penny arcades visited</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 67</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Saloons visited </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">735</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Relief visits </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">174</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cases referred to relief organisations </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">374</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Legal aid cases referred </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">105</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Referred to Visiting Nurses' Association</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">7</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Housing cases referred</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">51</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Applications for work referred</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 264</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Placed in hospitals</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 103</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sent to dispensaries </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">192</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Children placed in homes </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">240</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Slot machines removed </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">223</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Work found for men </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">57</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Work found for women</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 81</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Work found for boys</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 84</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Work found for girls</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 90</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Visits to ice-cream parlors </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">356</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Visits to candy stores </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">805</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<table summary="" border="1" style="width: 600px; height: 230px;" cellpadding="1" + cellspacing="0"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="font-weight: bold;">VISITS TO COURTS</td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right; width: 10%;"><br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Juvenile </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">451</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Municipal </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">1,809</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Criminal </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">211</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>County</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 86</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Grand Jury </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">26</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Conferences with state or city officials </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">1,244</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<table summary="" border="1" style="width: 600px; height: 423px;" cellpadding="1" + cellspacing="0"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="font-weight: bold;">PROSECUTIONS</td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right; width: 10%;"><br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cases of abandonment </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">99</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Assault and battery </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Contributing to delinquency and dependency of children</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">232</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Crimes against children </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">12</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Disorderly conduct </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">141</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Immoral dancing </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Intoxicating liquors </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">33</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Juvenile Court cases </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">78</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Larceny </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tobacco </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">10</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sale of cocaine</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Other cases</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;"> 110</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Total prosecutions </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">738</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<table summary="" border="1" style="width: 600px; height: 263px;" cellpadding="1" + cellspacing="0"> + <tbody> + <tr style="font-weight: bold;" align="left"> + <td>RESULTS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left;">Convictions </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">311</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left;">Settled out of court</td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">100</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left;">Nolle pros, or nonsuit </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">52</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left;">Dismissed </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">93</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left;">Acquittals </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">50</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left;">Pending </td> + <td style="text-align: right; width: 10%;">92</td> + </tr> + <tr align="left"> + <td><br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="text-align: left; font-weight: bold;">Total complaints +received </td> + <td style="text-align: right; font-weight: bold; width: 10%;">5,047</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<br> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="CHAPTER_X"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_288"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> +<h2>FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS</h2> +<br> +<p>In the four years intervening since this book was +first written, the progress of equal rights for +women has been so rapid that the summary on +pages 175-235 is now largely obsolete; but it is +useful for comparison. In the United States at +present (August, 1914), Wyoming, Colorado, +Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, +Kansas, Arizona, and Alaska have granted full +suffrage to women. In the following States the +voters will pass upon the question in the autumn +of 1914: Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South +Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio, the last +three by initiative petition. In New Jersey, +Pennsylvania, Iowa, New York, and Massachusetts +a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage +has passed one legislature and must pass +another before being submitted to the people. +The advance has been world-wide. Thus, in 1910 +the Gaekwar of Baroda in India allowed the women +of his dominions a vote in municipal elections, and +Bosnia bestowed the parliamentary suffrage on +women who owned a certain amount of real estate; +Norway in 1913 and Iceland in 1914 were won to +<a name="Page_289"></a>full suffrage. The following table presents a +convenient historical summary of the progress in +political rights:</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>On July 2, 1776, two days before the Declaration of Independence +was signed, New Jersey, in her first State constitution, enfranchised +the women by changing the words of her provincial +charter from "Male freeholders worth £50" to "<i>all inhabitants</i> +worth £50," and for 31 years the women of that State voted.</p> +</div> +<p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">GAINS IN EQUAL +SUFFRAGE</p> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>Eighty years ago women could not vote anywhere, except to +a very limited extent in Sweden and in a few other places in the +Old World.<br> +<br> +</p> +</div> +<br> +<table summary="" style="width: 800px; height: 4139px;" border="1" cellpadding="1" + cellspacing="0"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="font-weight: bold;">TIME</td> + <td style="font-weight: bold;"> PLACE </td> + <td style="font-weight: bold;">KIND OF SUFFRAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1838</td> + <td> Kentucky </td> + <td>School suffrage to widows with children of school age.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1850 </td> + <td>Ontario </td> + <td>School suffrage, women married and single</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1861 </td> + <td>Kansas </td> + <td>School suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1867 </td> + <td>New South Wales </td> + <td>Municipal suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1869 </td> + <td>England </td> + <td>Municipal suffrage, single women and widows<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Victoria </td> + <td>Municipal suffrage, married and single women<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Wyoming </td> + <td> Full +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1871</td> + <td> West Australia </td> + <td>Municipal suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1875 </td> + <td>Michigan </td> + <td>School suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Minnesota </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1876 </td> + <td>Colorado </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1877</td> + <td> New Zealand </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1878 </td> + <td>New Hampshire </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Oregon </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1879 </td> + <td>Massachusetts </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1880</td> + <td> New York </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Vermont </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>South Australia </td> + <td>Municipal suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1881 </td> + <td>Scotland</td> + <td> Municipal suffrage to the single women and widows<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Isle of Man </td> + <td>Parliamentary +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1883 </td> + <td>Nebraska </td> + <td>School suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1884 </td> + <td>Ontario </td> + <td>Municipal suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Tasmania </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1886</td> + <td> New Zealand </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>New Brunswick </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1887</td> + <td> Kansas </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Nova Scotia </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Manitoba </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>North Dakota </td> + <td>School +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>South Dakota </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1887 </td> + <td>Montana </td> + <td>School suffrage</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Arizona </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>New Jersey </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Montana </td> + <td> Tax-paying +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1888 </td> + <td>England </td> + <td>County suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>British Columbia</td> + <td> Municipal +Suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Northwest Territory </td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1889</td> + <td>Scotland</td> + <td>County suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Province of Quebec</td> + <td>Municipal +suffrage, single women and widows<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1891 </td> + <td>Illinois</td> + <td>School suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1893 </td> + <td>Connecticut </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Colorado</td> + <td>Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>New Zealand </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1894 </td> + <td>Ohio</td> + <td> School suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Iowa</td> + <td>Bond suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>England</td> + <td>Parish and +district suffrage, married and single women.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1895 </td> + <td>South Australia </td> + <td> Full State suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1896 </td> + <td>Utah</td> + <td> Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Idaho </td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1898 </td> + <td>Ireland</td> + <td>All offices except members of Parliament.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Minnesota </td> + <td> Library +trustees.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Delaware</td> + <td> School +suffrage to tax-paying women.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>France</td> + <td>Women +engaged in commerce can vote for judges of the tribunal of commerce.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Louisiana </td> + <td>Tax-paying +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1900 </td> + <td>Wisconsin </td> + <td>School suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>West Australia</td> + <td>Full State +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1901 </td> + <td>New York</td> + <td>Tax-paying suffrage; local taxation in all towns and villages +of the State.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Norway</td> + <td>Municipal +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1902 </td> + <td>Australia</td> + <td>Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>New South Wales</td> + <td>Full State +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1903</td> + <td> Kansas</td> + <td>Bond suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Tasmania</td> + <td> Full State +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1905 </td> + <td>Queensland</td> + <td>Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1906 </td> + <td>Finland</td> + <td>Full suffrage; eligible for all offices.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1907 </td> + <td>Norway</td> + <td>Full parliamentary suffrage to the 300,000 who already had +municipal suffrage.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Sweden</td> + <td>Eligible to +municipal offices.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Denmark </td> + <td> Can vote +for members of boards of public charities and serve on such boards.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>England </td> + <td> Eligible as +mayors, aldermen, and county and town concilors.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Oklahoma</td> + <td> New State +continued school suffrage for women.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1908 </td> + <td>Michigan</td> + <td> Taxpayers to vote on question of local taxation and granting +of franchises.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Denmark</td> + <td>Women who +are taxpayers or wives of taxpayers vote for all offices except of +members of Parliament.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Victoria</td> + <td> Full State +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1909 </td> + <td>Belgium </td> + <td> Can vote for members of the conseils des prudhommes, and +also eligible.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Province of Voralberg (Austrian Tyrol) </td> + <td>Single +women and widows paying taxes were given a vote.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Ginter Park, VA</td> + <td>Tax-paying +women, a vote on all municipal questions.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1910 </td> + <td>Washington</td> + <td> Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>New Mexico</td> + <td>School +suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1910 </td> + <td>Norway</td> + <td> Municipal suffrage made universal.<br> +Three-fifths of the women had it before.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Bosnia</td> + <td> Parliamentary +vote to women owning a certain amount of real estate.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Diet of the Crown Prince of Krain (Austria)<br> + </td> + <td>Suffrage to the +women of its capital city Laibach.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>India (Gaekwar of Baroda)<br> + </td> + <td>Women in his +dominions vote in municipal elections.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Wurttemberg </td> + <td>Women engaged in +agriculture vote for Kingdom of members of the chamber of agriculture; +also eligible.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>New York</td> + <td>Women in all +towns, villages and third-class cities vote on bonding propositions.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1911 </td> + <td>California</td> + <td>Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Honduras</td> + <td>Municipal +suffrage in capital city, Belize.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Iceland</td> + <td>Parliamentary +suffrage for women over 25 years.<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1912 </td> + <td>Oregon</td> + <td> Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Arizona</td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Kansas</td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1913 </td> + <td>Alaska</td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Norway</td> + <td> Do.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><br> + </td> + <td>Illinois</td> + <td>Suffrage for +statutory officials (including presidential electors and municipal +officers).<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1914 </td> + <td>Iceland </td> + <td>Full suffrage.</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<br> +<a name="Page_291"></a>In the United States the struggle for the +franchise +has entered national politics, a sure sign of +its widening scope. The demand for equal suffrage +was embodied in the platform of the Progressive +Party in August, 1912. This marks an advance +over Col. Roosevelt's earlier view, expressed in +the <i>Outlook</i> of February 3, 1912, when he said: +"I believe in woman's suffrage wherever the +women want it. Where they do not want it, the +suffrage should not be forced upon them." When +the new administration assumed office in March, +1913, the friends of suffrage worked to secure a +constitutional amendment which should make +votes for women universal in the United States. +<a name="Page_292"></a>The inauguration ceremonies were marred by an +attack of hoodlums on the suffrage contingent of +the parade. Mr. Hobson in the House denounced +the outrage and mentioned the case of a young +lady, the daughter of one of his friends, who was +insulted by a ruffian who climbed upon the float +where she was. Mr. Mann, the Republican minority +leader, remarked in reply that her daughter +ought to have been at home. Commenting on +this dialogue, <i>Collier's Weekly</i> of April 5, 1913, +recalled the boast inscribed by Rameses III of +Egypt on his monuments, twelve hundred years +before Christ: "To unprotected women there is +freedom to wander through the whole country +wheresoever they list without apprehending danger." +If one works this out chronologically, +said the editor, Mr. Mann belongs somewhere +back in the Stone Age. In the Senate an active +committee on woman suffrage was formed under +the chairmanship of Mr. Thomas, of Colorado. +The vote on the proposed new amendment was +taken in the Senate on March 19, 1914, and it +was rejected,<a name="FNanchor_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428"><sup>[428]</sup></a> +35 to 34, two-thirds being necessary +<a name="Page_293"></a>before the measure could be submitted to the +States for ratification. In the House Mr. Underwood, +Democratic minority leader, took the stand +that suffrage was purely a State issue. Mr. +Heflin of Alabama was particularly vigorous in +denunciation of votes for women. He said<a name="FNanchor_429"></a><a + href="#Footnote_429"><sup>[429]</sup></a>: +<p>"I do not believe that there is a red-blooded +man in the world who in his heart really believes +in woman suffrage. I think that every man who +favours it ought to be made to wear a dress. Talk +about taxation without representation! Do you +say that the young man who is of age does not +represent his mother? Do you say that the young +man who pledges at the altar to love, cherish, and +protect his wife, does not represent her and his +children when he votes? When the Christ of God +came into this world to die for the sins of humanity, +did he not die for all, males and females? +What sort of foolish stuff are you trying to inject +into this tariff debate?... There are trusts and +monopolies of every kind, and these little feminine +fellows are crawling around here talking about +woman suffrage. I have seen them here in this +Capitol. The suffragette and a little henpecked +fellow crawling along beside her; that is her husband. +She is a suffragette, and he is a mortal +suffering yet."</p> +<p><a name="Page_294"></a>Mr. Falconer of Washington rose in reply. He +remarked:<a name="FNanchor_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430"><sup>[430]</sup></a></p> +<p>"I want to observe that the mental operation +of the average woman in the State of Washington, +as compared to the ossified brain operation of the +gentleman from Alabama, would make him look +like a mangy kitten in a tiger fight. The average +woman in the State of Washington knows more +about social economics and political economy in +one minute than the gentleman from Alabama has +demonstrated to the members of this House that +he knows in five minutes."</p> +<p>On February 2, 1914, a delegation of women +called upon President Wilson to ascertain his +views. The President refused to commit himself. +He was not at liberty, he said, to urge upon +Congress policies which had not the endorsement +of his party's platform; and as the representative +of his party he was under obligations not to promulgate +or intimate his individual convictions. +On February 3, 1914, the Democrats of the House +in caucus, pursuant to a resolution of Mr. Heflin, +refused to create a woman suffrage committee. +So the constitutional amendment was quite lost. +In the following July Mr. Bryan suddenly issued +a strong appeal for equal suffrage in the <i>Commoner</i>. +Among his arguments were these:</p> +<p>"As man and woman are co-tenants of the earth +and must work out their destiny together, the +presumption is on the side of equality of treatment +<a name="Page_295"></a>in all that pertains to their joint life and its +opportunities. +The burden of proof is on those who +claim for one an advantage over the other in determining +the conditions under which both shall +live. This claim has not been established in the +matter of suffrage. On the contrary, the objections +raised to woman suffrage appear to me to be +invalid, while the arguments advanced in support of +the proposition are, in my judgment, convincing."</p> +<p>"Without minimising other arguments advanced +in support of the extending of suffrage to +woman, I place the emphasis upon the mother's +right to a voice in molding the environment which +shall surround her children—an environment +which operates powerfully in determining whether +her offspring will crown her latter years with joy +or 'bring down her gray hairs in sorrow to the +grave.'</p> +<p>"For a time I was imprest by the suggestion +that the question should be left to the women to +decide—a majority to determine whether the +franchise should be extended to woman; but I find +myself less and less disposed to indorse this test.... +Why should any mother be denied the use +of the franchise to safeguard the welfare of her +child merely because another mother may not +view her duty in the same light?"</p> +<p>The change in the status of women has been +significant not only in the political field, but also +in every other direction. A brief survey of the +legislation of various States in the past year, 1913, +<a name="Page_296"></a>reveals the manifold measures already adopted +for +the further protection of women and indicates +the trend of laws in the near future. Acts were +passed in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, +and Ohio to punish the seduction of girls and women +for commercialised vice, the laws being known +as "White Slave Acts"; laws for the abatement +of disorderly houses were passed in California, +Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington; +Oregon decreed that male applicants for a +marriage license must produce a physician's certificate +showing freedom from certain diseases; +and it authorised the sterilisation of habitual +criminals and degenerates. The necessity of +inculcating chastity in the newer generation, +whether through the teaching of sex hygiene in +the schools or in some other form, was widely +discussed throughout the country. Mothers' pensions +were granted by fourteen States; minimum +wage boards were established by three; and three +passed laws for the punishment of family desertion, +in such wise that the family of the offender +should receive a certain daily sum from the State +while he worked off his sentence. Tennessee removed +the disability of married women arising +from coverture. Ten States further limited the +hours of labour for women in certain industries, +the tendency being to fix the limit at fifty-four +or fifty-eight hours a week with a maximum of +nine or ten in any one day. The hours of labour +of children and the age at which they are allowed +<a name="Page_297"></a>to work were largely restricted. A National +Children's Bureau, under the charge of Miss Julia +Lathrope, has been created at Washington; and +Mrs. J. Borden Harriman was appointed to the +Industrial Relations Commission. The minuteness +and thoroughness of modern legislation for +the protection of women may be realised by noting +that in 1913 alone New York passed laws that no +girl under sixteen shall in any city of the first, +second, or third class sell newspapers or magazines +or shine shoes in any street or public place; that +separate wash rooms and dressing rooms must be +provided in factories where more than ten women +are employed; that whenever an employer requires +a physical examination, the employee, if a +female, can demand a physician of her own sex; +that the manufacture or repair for a factory of +any article of food, dolls' clothing, and children's +apparel in a tenement house be prohibited except +by special permit of the Labor Commission; that +the State Industrial Board be authorised to make +special rules and regulations for dangerous employments; +and that the employment of women +in canning establishments be strictly limited +according to prescribed hours.</p> +<p>The unmistakable trend of legislation in the +United States is towards complete equality of the +sexes in all moral, social, industrial, professional, +and political activities.</p> +<p>In England the House of Commons rejected +parliamentary suffrage for women. Incensed at +<a name="Page_298"></a>the repeated chicanery of politicians who +alternately +made and evaded their promises, a group +of suffragettes known as the "militants" resorted +to open violence. When arrested for damaging +property, they went on a "hunger strike," refusing +all nourishment. This greatly embarrassed +the government, which in 1913 devised the so-called +"Cat and Mouse Act," whereby those who +are in desperate straits through their refusal to eat +are released temporarily and conditionally, but +can be rearrested summarily for failure to comply +with the terms of their parole. The weakness in +the attitude of the militant suffragettes is their +senseless destruction of all kinds of property and +the constant danger to which they subject innocent +people by their outrages. If they would confine +themselves to making life unpleasant for those who +have so often broken their pledges, they could +stand on surer ground. The English are commonly +regarded as an orderly people, especially +by themselves. Nevertheless, it is true that hardly +any great reform has been achieved in England +without violence. The men of England did not +secure the abolition of the "rotten-borough" +system and extensive manhood suffrage until, in +1831, they smashed the windows of the Duke of +Wellington's house, burned the castle of the Duke +of Newcastle, and destroyed the Bishop's palace +at Bristol. In 1839 at Newport twenty chartists +were shot in an attempt to seize the town; they +were attempting to secure reforms like the aboli<a name="Page_299"></a>tion +of property qualifications for members of +Parliament. The English obtained the permanent +tenure of their "immemorial rights" only by +beheading one king and banishing another. In +our own country, the Boston Tea Party was a +typical "militant outrage," generally regarded +as a fine piece of patriotism. If the tradition of +England is such that violence must be a preliminary +to all final persuasion, perhaps censure of +the militants can find some mitigation in that fact. +Some things move very slowly in England. In +1909 a commission was appointed to consider reform +in divorce. Under the English law a husband +can secure a divorce for infidelity, but a +woman must, in addition to adultery, prove aggravated +cruelty. This is humorously called +"British fair play." In November, 1912, the +majority of the commission recommended that +this inequality be removed and that the sexes be +placed on an equal footing; and that in addition +to infidelity, now the only cause for divorce allowed, +complete separation be also granted for +desertion for three years, incurable insanity, and +incurable habitual drunkenness. The majority, +nine commissioners, found that the present stringent +restrictions and costliness of divorce are +productive of immorality and illicit relations, +particularly among the poorer classes. The majority +report was opposed by the three minority +members, the Archbishop of York, Sir William +Anson, and Sir Lewis Dibdin, representing the +<a name="Page_300"></a>Established Church of England and the Roman +Catholic Church. Thus far, Parliament has not +yet acted and the old law is still in force.</p> +<p>On the Continent, with the exception of a few +places like Finland, the movement for equal +suffrage, while earnestly pressed by a few, is not +yet concentrated. Women have won their rights +to higher education and are admitted to the +universities. They can usually enter business +and most of the professions. Inequities of civil +rights are gradually being swept away. For +example, in Germany a married woman has complete +control of her property, but only if she specifically +provided for it in the marriage contract; +many German women are ignorant that they +possess such a right. The Germans may be +divided into two classes: the caste which rules, +largely Prussian, militaristic, and bureaucratic; +and that which, although desirous of more republican +institutions and potentially capable of +liberal views, is constrained to obey the first or +ruling class. This upper class is not friendly +to the modern women's-rights movement. Perhaps +it has read too much Schopenhauer. This +amiable philosopher, whose own mother could +not endure living with him, has this to say of +women<a name="FNanchor_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431"><sup>[431]</sup></a>:</p> +<p>"A woman who is perfectly truthful and does +not dissemble, is perhaps an impossibility. In a +<a name="Page_301"></a>court of justice women are more often found +guilty +of perjury than men.... Women are directly +adapted to act as the nurses and educators of our +early childhood, for the simple reason that they +themselves are childish, foolish, and shortsighted.... Women +are and remain, taken altogether, +the most thorough and incurable Philistines; and +because of the extremely absurd arrangement +which allows them to share the position and title +of their husbands they are a constant stimulus to +his ignoble ambitions.... Where are there any +real monogamists? We all live, at any rate for a +time, and the majority of us always, in polygamy.... It +is men who make the money, and not +women; therefore women are neither justified in +having unconditional possession of it nor capable +of administering it.... That woman is by nature +intended to obey, is shown by the fact that every +woman who is placed in the unnatural position +of absolute independence at once attaches herself +to some kind of man, by whom she is controlled +and governed; that is because she requires a +master. If she is young, the man is a lover; if she +is old, a priest."</p> +<p>Essentially the opinion of Schopenhauer is that +of the Prussian ruling class to-day. It is indisputable +that in Germany, as elsewhere on the +Continent, chastity in men outside of marriage is +not expected, nor is the wife allowed to inquire +into her husband's past. The bureaucratic German +expects his wife to attend to his domestic +<a name="Page_302"></a>comforts; he does not consult her in politics. +The natural result when the masculine element +has not counterchecks is bullying and coarseness. +To find the coarseness, the reader can consult the +stories in papers like the <i>Berliner Tageblatt</i> and +much of the current drama; to observe the bullying, +he will have to see it for himself, if he doubts +it. This is not an indictment of the whole German +people; it is an indictment of the militaristic-bureaucratic +ruling class, which, persuaded of its +divine inspiration and intolerant of criticism,<a name="FNanchor_432"></a><a + href="#Footnote_432"><sup>[432]</sup></a> +has plunged the country into a devastating war. +It is not unlikely that the end of the conflict will +mark also the overthrow of the Hohenzollern +dynasty. The spirit of the Germans of 1848, who +labored unsuccessfully to make their country a +republic, may awake again and realise its dreams. +In concluding this chapter, I wish to enlarge +somewhat upon the philosophy of suffrage as +exhibited in the preceding chapter. The "woman's +sphere" argument is still being worked +overtime by anti-suffrage societies, whose members +rather inconsistently leave their "sphere," the +<a name="Page_303"></a>home, to harangue in public and buttonhole +legislators +to vote against the franchise for women. +"A woman's place," says the sage Hennessy, "is +in th' home, darning her husband's childher. I +mean----" "I know what ye mean," says Mr. +Dooley. "'Tis a favrite argument iv mine whin I +can't think iv annything to say." A century ago, +the home was the woman's sphere. To-day the +man has deliberately dragged her out of it to +work for him in factory and store because he can +secure her labor more cheaply than that of men +and is, besides, safer in abusing her when she has +no direct voice in legislation. Are the manufacturers +willing to send their 1,300,000 female employees +back to their "sphere"? If they are not, +but desire their labor, they ought in fairness to +allow them the privileges of workmen—that is, of +citizens, participating actively in the political, +social, and economic development of the country.</p> +<p>As women enter more largely into every profession +and business, certain results will inevitably +follow. We shall see first of all what pursuits are +particularly adapted to them and which ones are +not. It has already become apparent that as +telephone and typewriter operators women, as a +class, are better fitted than men. They have, in +general, greater patience for details and quickness +of perception in these fields. Similarly, in +architecture some have already achieved conspicuous +success. One who has observed the insufficient +closet space in modern apartments and +<a name="Page_304"></a>kitchenettes with the icebox in front of the +stove, +is inclined to wish that male architects would +consult their mothers or wives more freely. In +law and medicine results are not yet clear. We +shall presently possess more extensive data in all +fields for surer conclusions.</p> +<p>A second result may be, that many women, +instead of leaving the home, will be forced back +into it. This movement will be accelerated if the +granting of equal pay for equal work and a universal +application of the minimum wage take +place. There are a great number of positions, +especially those where personality is not a vital +factor, where employers will prefer women when +they can pay them less; but if they must give equal +pay, they will choose men. Hence the tendency +of the movements mentioned is to throw certain +classes of women back into the home. The home +of the future, however, will have lost much of the +drudgery and monotony once associated with it. +The ingenious labor-saving devices, like the breadmixer, +the fireless cooker, the vacuum cleaner, +and the electric iron, the propagation of scientific +knowledge in the rearing of children, and wider +outlets for outside interests, will tend to make +domestic life an exact science, a profession as +important and attractive as any other.</p> +<p>The home is not necessarily every woman's +sphere and neither is motherhood. Neither is it +every woman's congenital duty to make herself +attractive to men. The "woman's pages" of +<a name="Page_305"></a>newspapers, filled with gratuitous advice on +these +subjects, never tell men that their duty is fatherhood +or that they should make themselves attractive +or that their sphere is also the home. Until +these one-sided points of view are adjusted to a +more reasonable basis, we shall not reach an +understanding. They are as unjust as the farmer +who ploughs with a steam plow and lets his wife +cart water from a distant well instead of providing +convenient plumbing.</p> +<p>Women who are fitted for motherhood and have +a talent for it can enter it with advantage. There +is a talent for motherhood exactly as there is for +other things. Other women have genius which +can be of greatest service to the community in +other ways. They should have opportunity to +find their sphere. If this is "Feminism," it is +also simple justice. One reason that we are at +sea in some of the problems of the women's-rights +movement, is that the history of women has been +mainly written by men. The question of motherhood, +the sexual life of women, and the position +of women as it has been or is likely to be affected +by their sexual characteristics, must be more +exactly ascertained before definite conclusions +can be reached. At present there is too much +that we don't know. We need more scientific +investigations of the type of Mr. Havelock Ellis's +admirable <i>Studies in the Psychology of Sex</i><a name="FNanchor_433"></a><a + href="#Footnote_433"><sup>[433]</sup></a> +and less of pseudo-scientific lucubrations like Otto +<a name="Page_306"></a>Weininger's <i>Sex and Character</i>. When +human +society has rid itself of the bogies and nightmares, +superstitions and prejudices, which have borne +upon it with crushing force, it will be in a better +position to construct an ideal system of government. +Meanwhile experiments are and must be +made. Woman suffrage is not necessarily a reform; +it is a necessary step in evolution.</p> +<p>One venerable bogey I wish to dispose of before +I close. It is that the Roman Empire was ruined +and collapsed because the increasing liberty given +to women and the equality granted the sexes under +the Empire produced immorality that destroyed +the State. The trouble with Rome was that it +failed to grasp the fundamentals of economic law. +Slavery, the concentration of land in a few hands, +and the theory that all taxation has for its end the +enriching of a select few, were the fallacies which, +in the last analysis, caused the collapse of the +Roman Empire. The luxury, immorality, and +race-suicide which are popularly conceived to have +been the immediate causes of Rome's decline and +fall, were in reality the logical results, the inevitable +attendant phenomena of a political system +based on a false hypothesis. For when wealth +was concentrated in a few hands, when there +was no all-embracing popular education, all incentives +to thrift, to private initiative, and hence +to the development of the sturdy moral qualities +which thrift and initiative cause and are the product +of, were stifled. A nation can reach its +<a name="Page_307"></a>maximum power only when, through the harmonious +cooperation of all its parts, the initiative and +talents of every individual have free scope, untrammeled +by special privilege, to reach that sphere +for which nature has designed him or her.</p> +<p>NOTE: The official organ of the National American +Woman Suffrage Association is <i>The Woman's +Journal</i>, published weekly. The headquarters +are at 505 Fifth Avenue, New York City.</p> +<p>England has two organisations which differ +in methods. The National Union of Women's +Suffrage Societies has adopted the constitutional +or peaceful policy; it publishes <i>The Common Cause</i>, +a weekly, at 2 Robert Street, Adelphi, W.C., +London. The "militant" branch of suffragettes +forms the National Women's Social and Political +Union, and its weekly paper is <i>Votes for Women</i>, +Lincoln's Inn House, Kingsway, W.C.</p> +<p>The International Woman Suffrage Alliance +issues the <i>Jus Suffragii</i> monthly at 62 Kruiskade, +Rotterdam.</p> +<p>A good source from which to obtain the present +status of women in Europe is the <i>Englishwoman's +Year Book and Directory for 1914</i>, published by +Adam and Charles Black.<br> +<br> +</p> +<h4 style="text-align: left;">NOTES:</h4> +<a name="Footnote_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428">[428]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Twenty-six senators did not vote. The question of negro +suffrage complicated the matter with Southern senators. Mr. +Williams of Mississippi wished to limit the franchise to "white +citizens"; but his amendment was voted down. The list of +senators voting for and against the woman suffrage amendment +appears on page 5472 of the Congressional Record, March 19, +1914. The debate is contained in pages 5454-5472. Senator +Tillman of South Carolina inserted a vicious attack on northern +women by the late Albert Bledsoe, who advised them to "cut +their hair short, and their petticoats, too, and enter a la bloomer +the ring of political prizefighters." Bledsoe's article will be +found in the Record, July 28, 1913, 3115-3119.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429">[429]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Record, May 6, 1913, 1221-1222.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430">[430]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Record, May 6, 1913, 1222.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431">[431]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Essays of Schopenhauer. Translated by Mrs. Rudolf Dircks +Pages 64-79.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432">[432]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Any criticism of the Kaiser leads to arrest. The most vigorous +checks to Bourbon rule come from the Socialists, who in +1912 polled 4,250,300 votes. But as the Kaiser, as King of +Prussia, controls a majority of votes in the Bundesrath, or +Federal Council, can dissolve the Reichstag, or House of +Representatives, +at any time with the consent of the Bundesrath, +has sole power to appoint the chancellor, and is lord supreme of +the army and navy, anything like real popular government is +far off.</p> +</div> +<a name="Footnote_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433">[433]</a> +<div class="note"> +<p> Philadelphia, 1906. The F.A. Davis Company.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="INDEX"></a> +<h2><a name="Page_308"></a>INDEX</h2> +A<br> +<br> +Adultery, under Roman Law,<a href="#Page_19">19</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laws modified by Justinian, <a + href="#Page_68">68</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Age of Consent, under English Law,<a href="#Page_138">138</a>-<a + href="#Page_139">139</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the United States, <a + href="#Page_155">155</a>-<a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a + href="#Page_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a + href="#Page_275">275</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Alabama, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a><br> +<br> +Apostles, teachings about women, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-<a + href="#Page_57">57</a><br> +<br> +Arizona, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a><br> +<br> +Arkansas, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a><br> +<br> +Attainder, bills of, in Roman Empire, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a + href="#Page_37">37</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laws of Arcadius, Honorius, and +Constantine, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-<a href="#Page_76">76</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Pope Innocent III, <a + href="#Page_116">116</a>.</span><br> +<br> +<br> +B<br> +<br> +Breach of Promise, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modification by Constantine, <a + href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Justinian, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br> +<br> +Business, woman in, under Roman Empire, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in England, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the United States, <a + href="#Page_173">173</a>-<a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under each State</span><br> +<br> +<br> +C<br> +<br> +California, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a><br> +<br> +Chastisement, right of husband to chastise wife under English Law, <a + href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a><br> +<br> +Christ, teachings about women, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a + href="#Page_53">53</a><br> +<br> +Colorado, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_181">181</a><br> +<br> +Connecticut, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a><br> +<br> +Consent of women to marriage, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions of Church Fathers, <a + href="#Page_60">60</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enactments of Christian Emperors, <a + href="#Page_74">74</a></span><br> +<br> +Crimes against women, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a + href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_97">97</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>-<a + href="#Page_139">139</a></span><br> +<br> +Curtesy, defined, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a + href="#Page_129">129</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Custom, power of, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a><br> +<br> +<br> +D<br> +<br> +Delaware, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a><br> +<br> +Discrepancy in wages paid to women, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-<a + href="#Page_283">283</a><br> +<br> +District of Columbia, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a><br> +<br> +Divorce, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modified by +Theodosius and Valentinian, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Justinian, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Justin, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Canon Law, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a + href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a + href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general considerations, <a + href="#Page_285">285</a>-<a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Double standard of morality, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a + href="#Page_274">274</a><br> +<br> +Dower, defined, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">right of, in English Law, <a + href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under different States.</span><br> +<br> +Dowry, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_16">16</a>, +<a href="#Page_19">19</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among ancient Gauls, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br> +<br> +<br> +E<br> +<br> +Education, rights of women to an,<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Roman Empire, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a + href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in England, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a + href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the United States, <a + href="#Page_168">168</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br> +<br> +<br> +F<br> +<br> +Fathers of the Church, their commands concerning women, <a + href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_63">63</a><br> +<br> +Florida, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_186">186</a><br> +<br> +<br> +G<br> +<br> +Georgia, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a><br> +<br> +Gifts between husband and wife, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-<a + href="#Page_17">17</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes by Justinian, <a + href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_74">74</a></span><br> +<br> +Guardian, decay of power of, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a + href="#Page_8">8</a><br> +<br> +Guardians, women as, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laws modified by Justinian, <a + href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Guardianship under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>-<a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_82">82</a></span><br> +<br> +<br> +H<br> +<br> +Husband and wife, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>-<a + href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Canon Law, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, +<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a + href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States</span><br> +<br> +<br> +I<br> +<br> +Idaho, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a><br> +<br> +Illinois, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ritchie case, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a + href="#Page_284">284</a></span><br> +<br> +Indian Territory, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br> +<br> +Indiana, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a><br> +<br> +Inheritance rights of women, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a + href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modified by Justinian, <a + href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, +<a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></span><br> +<br> +Intellectual inferiority of women, argument discussed, <a + href="#Page_255">255</a>-<a href="#Page_259">259</a><br> +<br> +Iowa, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a><br> +<br> +<br> +J<br> +<br> +Jewish ideas about women, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a><br> +<br> +K<br> +<a name="Page_309"></a><br> +Kansas, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a><br> +<br> +Kentucky, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_196">196</a><br> +<br> +<br> +L<br> +<br> +Lecky, analysis of character of women, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>-<a + href="#Page_264">264</a><br> +<br> +Louisiana, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_198">198</a><br> +<br> +M<br> +<br> +Macaulay on the effects of freedom, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a + href="#Page_273">273</a><br> +<br> +Maine, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br> +<br> +Marriage, women in, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a + href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions of Church Fathers, <a + href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among ancient Gauls and Germans, <a + href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Canon Law, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a + href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a + href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modern changes in views of, <a + href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Maryland, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a><br> +<br> +Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_201">201</a><br> +<br> +Michigan, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a><br> +<br> +Minnesota, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>-<a href="#Page_204">204</a><br> +<br> +Mississippi, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-<a href="#Page_205">205</a><br> +<br> +Missouri, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_207">207</a><br> +<br> +Montana, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a><br> +<br> +Moral argument against suffrage, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>-<a + href="#Page_261">261</a><br> +<br> +<br> +N<br> +<br> +Nebraska, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_209">209</a><br> +<br> +Nevada, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a><br> +<br> +New Hampshire, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_212">212</a><br> +<br> +New Jersey, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_213">213</a><br> +<br> +New Mexico, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a><br> +<br> +New York, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>-<a href="#Page_215">215</a><br> +<br> +North Carolina, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a><br> +<br> +North Dakota, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_217">217</a><br> +<br> +<br> +O<br> +<br> +Ohio, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_219">219</a><br> +<br> +Oklahoma, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a><br> +<br> +Old Maid, treatment of, by Christians, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a + href="#Page_247">247</a><br> +<br> +Oregon, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a><br> +<br> +<br> +P<br> +<br> +Partiality of Roman Law to women, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a + href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br> +<br> +Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_222">222</a><br> +<br> +Physiological argument against suffrage, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>-<a + href="#Page_243">243</a><br> +<br> +Political or social argument against suffrage, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a + href="#Page_255">255</a><br> +<br> +Power of father, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a + href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, +<a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under early Christians, <a + href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a> +</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></span><br> +<br> +Professions, women in, in England, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a + href="#Page_144">144</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in United States, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a + href="#Page_173">173</a>, and see under</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">various States;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">need of opening all, to women, <a + href="#Page_277">277</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a></span><br> +<br> +Property rights of married women, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a + href="#Page_16">16</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a + href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a + href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of widows and single women, under Roman +Law, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under English Law, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></span><br> +<a name="Page_310"></a><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the United +States, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></span><br> +<br> +Protection of property of children under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a + href="#Page_41">41</a><br> +<br> +<br> +R<br> +<br> +Respect for women, among Romans, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a + href="#Page_7">7</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among ancient Germans, <a + href="#Page_79">79</a>-<a href="#Page_80">80</a></span><br> +<br> +Rhode Island, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_223">223</a><br> +<br> +Ritchie case in Illinois, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a + href="#Page_284">284</a><br> +<br> +Roman Catholic Church, attitude to women, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a + href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a + href="#Page_106">106</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a><br> +<br> +<br> +S<br> +<br> +Second marriages, opinions of Church Fathers concerning, <a + href="#Page_61">61</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislation of Christian Emperors, <a + href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br> +<br> +Slaves, women, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>-<a + href="#Page_49">49</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among Germanic peoples, <a + href="#Page_97">97</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Canon Law, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></span><br> +<br> +South Carolina, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_224">224</a><br> +<br> +South Dakota, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a><br> +<br> +Suffrage, woman, in England, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-<a + href="#Page_148">148</a><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the United States, <a + href="#Page_151">151</a>-<a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a + href="#Page_157">157</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a></span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also under various States.</span><br> +<br> +Suits, women engaging in, under Roman Law, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-<a + href="#Page_33">33</a><br> +<br> +<br> +T<br> +<br> +Tennessee, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br> +<br> +Texas, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br> +<br> +Theological argument against women's rights, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a + href="#Page_238">238</a><br> +<br> +Training of women for higher ideals, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>-<a + href="#Page_277">277</a><br> +<br> +<br> +U<br> +<br> +Utah, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a><br> +<br> +<br> +V<br> +<br> +Vermont, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-<a href="#Page_229">229</a><br> +<br> +Vestal Virgins, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br> +<br> +Virginia, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>-<a href="#Page_230">230</a><br> +<br> +<br> +W<br> +<br> +Washington, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a><br> +<br> +West Virginia, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>-<a href="#Page_232">232</a><br> +<br> +Wisconsin, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_233">233</a><br> +<br> +Women: see under <i>Divorce, Dowry, Marriage, Husband and Wife</i>, +etc.<br> +<br> +Wyoming, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br> +<br> +<p><a name="Page_311"></a>INDEX TO SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER</p> +A<br> +<br> +Advance of equal suffrage, chronological tables, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>-<a + href="#Page_291">291</a><br> +<br> +Amendment, constitutional, for suffrage, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by Senate, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-<a + href="#Page_293">293</a>;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and by House, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></span><br> +<br> +B<br> +<br> +Bryan, favours suffrage, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>-<a + href="#Page_295">295</a><br> +<br> +C<br> +<br> +Cat and Mouse Act, <a href="#Page_298">298</a><br> +<br> +D<br> +<br> +Divorce, proposals for reform defeated in England, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a + href="#Page_300">300</a><br> +<br> +E<br> +<br> +Europe, general status of women's rights in, <a href="#Page_300">300</a><br> +<br> +F<br> +<br> +Falconer, Congressman, reply to Heflin, <a href="#Page_294">294</a><br> +<br> +Feminism, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>-<a href="#Page_306">306</a><br> +<br> +G<br> +<br> +Germany, position of women in, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>-<a + href="#Page_302">302</a><br> +<br> +H<br> +<br> +Heflin, Congressman, speech on suffrage, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br> +<br> +J<br> +<br> +Journals, official, of various women's organisations, <a + href="#Page_307">307</a><br> +<br> +L<br> +<br> +Legislation, most recent examples of, for protection of women, <a + href="#Page_296">296</a>-<a href="#Page_297">297</a><br> +<br> +M<br> +<br> +Mann, Congressman, remarks on suffrage parade, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br> +<br> +Militant suffragettes, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_299">299</a><br> +<br> +R<br> +<br> +Roman Empire, assumption that its fall was due to liberty allowed +women, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>-<a href="#Page_307">307</a><br> +<br> +Roosevelt, opinion on suffrage, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br> +<br> +S<br> +<br> +Schopenhauer, remarks on nature of women, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>-<a + href="#Page_301">301</a><br> +<br> +Sphere, woman's sphere argument, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>-<a + href="#Page_303">303</a><br> +<br> +T<br> +<br> +Tendencies and results of women's rights movement, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>-<a + href="#Page_306">306</a><br> +<br> +W<br> +<br> +Wilson, President, position on suffrage, <a href="#Page_294">294</a><br> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11672 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + + |