The Project Gutenberg eBook of A History of Matrimonial Institutions Vol. 1 of 3 by George Ellliott Howard.

[525] The domum deductio was the second act in the patrician marriage ceremony of confarreatio, and in this case it appears to have been a necessary form. But it was probably also observed, as a nuptial custom, in connection with plebeian free marriages as well as in the coemptio: Rossbach, Die römische Ehe, 92 ff., 116, 145, 155, 328 ff.; idem, Hochzeits- und Ehedenkmäler, 39-118. Cf. Marquardt, Privat-Leben, I, 38; Smith, Dict. of Ant., II, 142; Fustel de Coulanges, Ancient City, 55 ff.; Dargun, op. cit., 100 ff.

[526] "Rapi simulatur virgo exgremio matris aut si ea non est, ex proxima necessitudine, cum ad virum trahitur, quod videlicet ea res feliciter Romulo cessit."—Festus, De verb. sig., s. v. Rapi.

[527] Catullus, Carmina, LXII, 20-24; Martin's translation, 89. See also Catullus, LVI and LXI, for other allusions to Roman wedding customs; and compare Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 75-78; Virgil, Eclogues, VIII, 30, and Servius, Commentaria, ad hoc loc. In general, Rossbach, op. cit., 328 ff., 359; Marquardt, op. cit., I, 37-55; Friedländer, Sittengeschichte, I, 463-66; Bouché-Leclercq, Institutions romaines, 468 ff.; Becker, Gallus, 160, 161, 153-81; Plutarch, Lives, I, 69-73 (Romulus); Smith, op. cit., II, 138 ff., 142 ff.; Letourneau, op. cit., 124, 125; Westermarck, op. cit., 386; Dargun, op. cit., 100 ff.; McLennan, op. cit., I, 13.

[528] Dargun, op. cit., 101; Fustel de Coulanges, op. cit., 56; Rossbach, op. cit., 359.

[529] Dargun, op. cit., 88; Schroeder, Hochzeitsbräuche, 88 ff.; Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, 85, 86, 122, 123; Post, Geschlechtsgenossenschaft, 60; McLennan, op. cit., I, 19. Bancroft gives an interesting description of the custom among the California Indians: "On the appointed day the girl, decked in all her finery, and accompanied by her family and relations, was carried in the arms of one of her kinsfolk toward the house of her lover.... The party was met half-way by a deputation from the bridegroom, one of whom now took the young woman in his arms and carried her to the house of her husband."—Native Races, I, 411.

[530] Lubbock, op. cit., 86; Davis, The Chinese, I, 285; Letourneau, op. cit., 144, 145; Post, op. cit., 57.

Dargun, op. cit., 88, 91, says, besides the custom just mentioned, there is but one other survival of wife-capture among the Chinese—the forbidding of friendly intercourse between the newly wedded husband and the mother-in-law. Jameson, China Review, X, 95, thinks that in China there is no trace of capture; but Kohler, in ZVR., VI, 405, 406, gives an example of the alleged symbol of rape among the Chinese. Cf. Neumann, Asiatische Studien, I, 112; and Westermarck, Human Marriage, 387.

Araki, Japanisches Eheschliessungsrecht, 9, 10, denies the former existence in Japan of purchase or capture of wives.

[531] Dargun, op. cit., 102, who refers to the legend of Launcelot and the song of Laudine and Iwein: Gervinus, Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung, 5th ed., I, 447, 449. For the same practice in German songs and epics see Dargun, op. cit., 119.

[532] McLennan, op. cit., I, 68; Dargun, op. cit., 102.

[533] Lord Kames, History of Man (Edinburgh, 1807), I, 449: McLennan, op. cit., I, 18; Lubbock, op. cit., 125; Dargun, Mutterrecht und Raubehe, 103.

[534] Dargun, op. cit., 102, 103.

[535] Piers, Description of Westmeath, quoted by Lubbock, 26, 27; see also Dargun, op. cit., 103.

[536] Lubbock, op. cit., 115, 116.

[537] Post, Geschlechtsgenossenschaft, 58; Lubbock, op. cit., 114-16; McLennan, op. cit., I, 13-15. For symbols of rape in India see Kohler, in ZVR., VIII, 91, 114 (Dekkan); IX, 325 (Bengal); X, 74-77 (Bombay).

[538] For the Slavs see Dargun, op. cit., 103 ff.; and for the Germans, ibid., 111-40; Düringsfeld, Hochzeitsbuch, 22 ff., 65 ff., 113 ff., passim.

[539] This custom, in some form, prevails throughout Europe: Dargun, op. cit., 107 ff., 135 ff. On all these practices compare Schroeder, Hochzeitsbräuche, 57 ff.

[540] "In Schweden wird die Braut an manchen Orten vom Bräutigam und seinen Gehilfen tief im Heu versteckt gefunden."—Dargun, op. cit., 132; Düringsfeld, Hochzeitsbuch, 9.

[541] Weinhold, Deutsche Frauen, I, 389; cf. Dargun, op. cit., 130.

[542] Dargun, op. cit., 130, 131; cf. Schroeder, op. cit., 72-78.

[543] In the Brautlauf "eine Beziehung auf den Frauenraub ist anzunehmen, ebenso wie beim analogen Ausdruck 'Brautjagd' in Lothringen, beim altnordischen 'qvânfang, konfang, verfang,' d. h. Frauenfang für Ehe und beim gothischen 'quên liugan' das Weib verhüllen, verschleiern, binden für Heiraten, sowie beim gleichbedeutenden mittelhochdeutschen: 'der briute binden.'" Dargun, op. cit., 130; cf. Schmidt, Hochzeiten in Thüringen, 40; Düringsfeld, op. cit., 155 ff.

[544] Dargun, op. cit., 130, 131. Weinhold, op. cit., I, 384 ff., gives many examples of similar wedding customs, and Schmidt, Jus primae noctis, 126-46, discusses the Brautlauf and like practices, citing the sources in detail. Cf. Grimm, Rechtsalterthümer, 419; idem, Wörterbuch, II, 336 ff.

[545] McLennan, op. cit., I, 10, criticises Müller, Doric Races, Book IV, chap, iv, sec. 2, who accounts for the sign of rape in the Spartan ceremony on the ground of coyness. See also Rossbach, Die römische Ehe, 328, who holds the same view; and Rawlinson's notes, Herodotus, Book VI, 65; Finck, Primitive Love, 123 ff., who rejects Spencer's theory.

[546] Of course, Spencer's reply to McLennan, already mentioned, is most important; and his argument has not been overthrown: Principles of Sociology, I, 652-56. Cf. Westermarck, Human Marriage, 388, who favors Spencer's view; and Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, 107, 108, who accepts coyness as a partial explanation, though he believes that the symbol of capture may also be due in some cases to the honor of having wives taken in war, while frequently it may represent in a realistic way the release of the woman from paternal authority and her subjection to the husband's power. Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 287 ff., rejects Spencer's explanation, regarding the forms of ceremonial rape as survivals of real capture, marking the transition to wife-purchase and the paternal system; and Lippert, Kulturgeschichte, II, 86 ff., 92 ff., holds a similar position.

[547] Starcke, Primitive Family, 218, 262. He refers especially to the joint or communal family—the "alpha and the omega" of the community. But his explanation can hardly be accepted as sufficient in all cases.

[548] Cf. Letourneau, L'évolution du mariage, 117, 128, who holds that the ceremonial of capture especially symbolizes the subjection of woman "achetée ou cédée par les parents; il sanctionnait les droits, presque toujours excessifs, que l'époux acquérait sur l'épousée."

[549] Ibid., 117. Compare the suggestions of Abercromby, that "marriage with capture—by which he understands capture of a bride, associated with some other form of marriage, such as that by purchase—may be regarded rather as a result of the innate universal desire to display courage, than as a survival of a still older practice of taking women captive in time of war."—Westermarck, op. cit., 388, citing Abercromby's "Marriage Customs of the Mordvins," Folk Lore, I, 454. Cf. Letourneau, op. cit., 128.

[550] Mystic Rose, 368, 370. In harmony with his theory of sexual taboo, he declares that it is "not the tribe from which the bride is abducted, nor, primarily, her family and kindred, but her sex."

[551] This is in effect conceded by Spencer. While rightly rejecting the theory of systematic foreign wife-capture, as a general phase in the development of marriage, he holds that the symbol of rape may sometimes result from struggles for women within the tribe, or from the resistance of the father and male relatives of the bride.

[552] "Der Raub begründet die Ehe nur insofern, als er zugleich jenes Zusammenleben herbeiführt; er ist Eheschliessungsform in demselben Sinne, wie er noch nach heutigem Recht als Besitzerwerbsform bezeichnet werden kann." It is only a matter of Kulturgeschichte and has no juridical significance.—Bernhöft, "Principien des eur. Familienrechts," ZVR., IX, 393.

[553] This is contrary to the common opinion, as expressed, for instance, by Dargun, op. cit., 84, but it appears to be sustained both by reason and the facts. For an example of the restraint of wife-capture through dread of the feud, see Curr, The Australian Race, I, 108. Rehme, "Das Recht der Amaxosa," ZVR., X, 40, shows that the harshness of the husband is mitigated by fear of the vengeance of the wife's relatives; and the same fact is noted by Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 206. Cf. Kohler, "Das Recht der Australneger," ZVR., VII, 349; Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 280 ff., 288, 289, 298; Lippert, Geschichte der Familie, 42; and his Kulturgeschichte, II, 86, 87, for the restraining effects of the blood-feud.

[554] This fact is overlooked by McLennan, who, though maintaining that exogamy originates in wife-capture, still believes that the reduction of capture to a system is due to the influence of exogamy. Westermarck, op. cit., 389, makes the same oversight; though, of course, the horror of close intermarriage, in case of inability to purchase, might lead to the occasional breach of custom in the form of wife-stealing.

[555] McLennan, Patriarchal Theory, 45, 234, 289, 315, 320, 327, 328, 291; cf. Wake, Marriage and Kinship, 388 ff.

[556] Post, Geschlechtsgenossenschaft, 63 ff.; Familienrecht, 175; Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, I, 329 ff.; Ursprung des Rechts, 56 ff.

[557] Post, Familienrecht, 92, 93, 96, 97. Such also is the opinion of Wake, op. cit., 390 ff.

[558] Heusler, Institutionen, II, 280; and Lippert, Geschichte der Familie, 42, 44 ff., 95-118, agree with McLennan in regarding purchase, at first as an alternative for capture, as a general form of marriage through which transition is made to the paternal system of kinship and the modern family; Kulischer, in ZFE., X, 193, 218, and Kohler, "Studien," ZVR., V, 336; "Die Ehe mit und ohne Mundium," ibid., VI, 333 ff., take a like position.

[559] Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 655. Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 287 ff., takes a similar position.

[560] Westermarck, Human Marriage, 400, 389, in opposition to Peschel, The Races of Man, 209 ff., who "contends that barter existed in those ages in which we find the earliest signs of our race."

[561] Kohler, "Das Negerrecht," ZVR., XI. 432 ff., 436; "Studien," ibid., V, 350; Westermarck, op. cit., 384; Rehme, "Das Recht der Amaxosa," ZVR., X, 38.

[562] For additional examples of the coexistence of real or pretended capture with purchase or its allied forms, see especially Kohler, "Studien," ZVR., V, 334-68; idem, "Indische Gewohnheitsrechte," ibid., VIII, 264 (Orissa); idem, "Ueber das Recht der Papuas," ibid., VII, 378, 379 (actual purchase and capture de facto); also Post, Familienrecht, 138 ff., 142 ff., 147 ff.; Westermarck, op. cit., 383, 384, 386-88, 399, 401; McLennan, Studies, I, 38, 39; Letourneau, op. cit., 120, 126, 144.

[563] Westermarck, op. cit., 383.

[564] Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 276, 285, 343 ff., 347, 348, 352-56; Kohler, "Das Recht der Australneger," ZVR., VII, 351, 352; Curr, The Australian Race, I, 107; Post, Familienrecht, 205, 206; Westermarck, op. cit., 390; McLennan, op. cit., I, 40. By the Tualcha mura custom, above referred to, a daughter is promised before she is born: Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Cent. Australia, 554-60.

[565] McLennan, op. cit., I, 41, 42, as evidence of wife-capture, gives the following stanzas, taken from Grey's Travels, II, 313:

"Wherefore came you, Weerang,
In my beauty's pride,
Stealing cautiously,
Like the tawny boreang,
On an unwilling bride?
'Twas thus you stole me
From one who loved me tenderly.
A better man he was than thee,
Who having forced me thus to wed,
Now so oft deserts my bed.
Yang, yang, yang, yoh.
"Oh, where is he who won
My youthful heart;
Who oft used to bless
And called me loved one?
You, Wearang, tore apart
From his fond caress
Her whom you desert and shun;
Out upon the faithless one!
Oh, may the Boyl-yas bite and tear
Her, whom you take your bed to share.
Yang, yang, yang, yoh."

[566] Dargun, Mutterrecht und Raubehe, 85-87, thinks we have in these forms a transition from actual to formal wife-capture. Possibly they may represent in particular instances transition from capture to purchase. Cf. Post, Familienrecht, 142 ff., 147 ff. for numerous examples; and Kohler, "Studien," ZVR., V, 337 ff.

[567] Compare Bernhöft, "Principien des eur. Familienrechts," ZVR., IX, 394, 395, who believes that in Europe rape was never a "legal form" of marriage. It was merely a "preliminary act." Among primitive men no difference is made between fact and law; and only in this sense can wife-capture be regarded as the foundation of a marriage; ibid., 392, 393.

[568] Inhabitants of the Malay island of Djilolo. Cf. Riedesel, "Galela und Tobeloresen," ZFE., XVII (1885).

[569] Post, op. cit., 148.

[570] Ibid., 151, 152.

[571] Ibid., 148, 149. For other examples of leaving a token see ibid., 149, 150.

[572] Ibid., 138, 154 ff. An excellent illustration is afforded by Kalmuck custom: Koehne, "Das Recht der Kalmücken," ZVR., IX, 462.

[573] Among the Nez-Percés Indians, for example, runaway matches are not unknown, but "the woman is in such cases considered a prostitute, and the bride's parents may seize upon the man's property."—Bancroft, Native Races, I, 277.

[574] The view presented in the text should be compared with Bernhöft's judgment. Granting that capture was crowded out by purchase, he does not think, with Dargun, that it was effected through abduction by prior or subsequent payment of the composition or price; but rather that it gradually disappeared in consequence of the severe penalties imposed for breach of the law and other disadvantages; so that "in Folge dessen der schon früher durchaus übliche Kauf zur alleinigen Eheschliessungsform wurde."—"Principien des eur. Familienrechts," ZVR., IX, 401. Cf. the theory of Hildebrand, Ueber das Problem, 17-22, who thinks rape follows purchase, at least in the form of gifts, but that it is of comparatively little importance; and Mucke, Horde und Familie, 111 ff., 139 ff., who reaches the same result in a different way. See also Dargun, Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht. 120-22, 127, where the "illegal" nature of capture is admitted.

[575] Kulischer, "Intercommunale Ehe durch Raub und Kauf," ZFE., X, 219; cf. Westermarck, op. cit., 390.

[576] In general on wife-purchase and its survivals see Post, Familienrecht, 173-220; idem, Geschlechtsgenossenschaft, 63-88; idem, Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, I, 329 ff.; Westermarck, Human Marriage, 390-416; Starcke, Primitive Family, 146, 232, 39, passim; Letourneau, L'évolution du mariage, 130-50; Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 655, 754, 755; Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 306 ff., 323 ff.; Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, 111 ff., 169 ff.; Hildebrand, Recht und Sitte, 19 ff., 31 ff.; Bancroft, Native Races, as below cited; Friedrichs, "Familienstufen und Eheformen," ZVR., X, 213, 218, 245, 246; idem, "Ehe und Eherecht der griechischen Heroenzeit," ibid., XI, 327 ff.; Bernhöft, "Principien des eur. Familienrechts," ibid., IX, 400; Kohler, "Studien," ibid., V, 334-68; idem, "Indisches Ehe- und Familienrecht," ibid., III, 345 ff.; idem, "Die Ehe mit und ohne Mundium," ibid., VI, 333 ff.; and his other monographs, ibid., VI, 167 (Burma), 365 and 405 (China); VII, 351 ff. (Australia), 371, 372, 378 (Papuas), 382 (India), 395 (Armenia); VIII, 85 (Gypsies), 86 (Eskimos), 87, 113 (Dekkan), 266 (Orissa), 241 ff. (Islam); IX, 326, 327 (Bengal), 334 (Chittagong), 334 (Burma); XI, 57 (Azteks), 167 (India), 419-21, 432 ff. (Kamerun); Rehme, "Das Recht der Amaxosa," ZVR., X, 37, 38; Post, "Kodifikation des Rechts der Amaxosa," ibid., XI, 232 ff.; Henrici, "Das Recht der Epheneger," ibid., XI, 134; Koehne, "Das Recht der Kalmücken," ibid., IX, 461 ff.; Lippert, Geschichte der Familie, 42 ff., 95-118; Unger, Die Ehe, 11, 17, 33, 46, 47, 77; Leist, Alt-arisches Jus Gentium, 115, 116, 122 ff.; Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Südslaven, 272 ff., 451; Jolly, Ueber die rechtl. Stellung der Frauen, 16 ff.; Kautsky, Kosmos, XII, 329 ff.; Dargun, Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht, 122-28, 149-54; Heusler, Institutionen, II, 277-86; Tillinghast, "The Negro in Africa and America," Pub. Am. Ec. Ass. (New York, 1902), III, chap. v; Ellis, Ewe-Speaking Peoples, 153 ff., 199 ff.

[577] This occurs, occasionally, where it is the custom for the husband to pass into the wife's family at marriage: Post, Familienrecht, 174; cf. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 788; Westermarck, Human Marriage, 382, 416.

[578] Westermarck, op. cit., 390; Marsden, History of Sumatra, 259.

[579] Westermarck, op. cit., 390. Compare Curr, The Australian Race, I, 107; Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 276, 285, 343. On exchange see Kohler, in ZVR., III, 345 (India); VIII, 242 (Islam), 112 (India).

[580] Lichtschein, Die Ehe nach mosaisch-talmud. Auffassung, 10, 11.

[581] Westermarck, op. cit., 390, 391. He enumerates the tribes in each continent among whom the custom is found. The subject is also discussed by Post, Familienrecht, 197, 217-20; idem, Geschlechtsgenossenschaft, 75; Letourneau, op. cit., 135-37; Bernhöft, "Ehe und Eherecht der griech. Heroenzeit," ZVR., XI, 321 ff. For examples see Kohler, in ZVR., V, 356, 357 (Malay tribes); VI, 333, 334, 338 n. 49, 167; VIII, 113; IX, 334; XI, 420.

[582] Bancroft, Native Races, I, 662.

[583] Letourneau, op. cit., 136.

[584] The "youths serve the parents of the dames two or three years before they are given them for wives; and they do not give them except to those who serve them best, the men in love doing the planting, fishing, and hunting for their fathers-in-law who wish them to, and fetch them firewood from the forest; and when the fathers-in-law give over to them the dames, they go and lodge with the fathers-in-law with their wives," leaving their own kindred: Souza, Tratado Descriptivo do Brazil (1570-87): Revist. Inst. Hist., XIV, 311 ff.; cf. also Kohler, in ZVR., V, 352.

[585] During this courting season, among the small tribes on the Amazon, the lover enjoys the so-called "bosom-right;" and this custom, which appears to be identical in character with that of "bundling" and the "proof-night," appears elsewhere in America and in other parts of the world: Martius, Rechtszustande, 56; ibid., Ethnographie, I, 108; cf. Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 321, 322.

[586] Among the Siouan peoples "the mother-in-law never speaks to her son-in-law, unless on his return from war he bring her the scalp and gun of a slain foe, in which event she is at liberty from that moment to converse with him."—Dorsey, "Siouan Sociology," XV. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 241, 242. Read especially Dorsey's very interesting account of this custom in his "Omaha Sociology," ibid., III, 262, 263; and compare Beckwith, "Customs of the Dakotahs," Rep. Smith. Inst., 1886, Part I, 256, 257; and Long, Expedition, I, 253, 254.

It exists likewise in Australia: Mathew, "Aust. Aborigines," Jour. R. S. N. S. Wales, 408, 409; Dawson, Aust. Aborigines, 29; among the Kafirs and Bushmans: Fritsch, Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrikas, 114, 445; in China: Smith, Village Life in China, chap. xxiii; in general, Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 289, 290; Lippert, Kulturgeschichte, II, 93; and Crawley, Mystic Rose, 391-414, passim.

[587] McGee, "Siouan Indians," XV. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 202; and especially his "Seri Indians," ibid., XVII, Part I, 279-87; cf. Ratzel, Hist. of Mankind, II, 125, who says the marriage ceremonies often mean ability to support a family. The Point Barrow Eskimo takes his wife for "reasons of interest." He wants her for household duties; and conversely she desires a good hunter. The mother usually chooses for her son the prospective bride, who is expected to serve a probation as "kivgak" (servant) in the future mother-in-law's kitchen; but sometimes the man goes to the woman's house to become a member: Murdoch, IX. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 401.

[588] Bancroft, Native Races, I, 134.

[589] So in New Guinea: Kohler, in ZVR., VII, 371. In some cases the "man goes over to the woman's family or tribe to live there forever; but Dr. Starcke suggests that this custom has a different origin from the other, being an expression of the strong clan sentiment, and not a question of gain."—Westermarck, Human Marriage, 391; Starcke, Primitive Family, 39. For McLennan's view of so-called "Beena" marriage, see above, p. 16.

[590] Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 754, 755. On the modification of the servitude of the wife through the service-contract see Letourneau, L'évolution du mariage, 137; Bancroft, Native Races, I, 134 (Kenai).

[591] Westermarck, op. cit., 391, 392.

[592] On the bride-price in various countries see Post, Familienrecht, 181-201; Westermarck, op. cit., 392-94; Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Südslaven, 273 ff.; Kohler, "Studien," ZVR., V, 338 ff.; Wake, Marriage and Kinship, 191, 199 ff., 239 ff., 215, 218, 235; Buch, Die Wotjäken, 49 ff.

[593] Post, op. cit., 181, 183.

[595] Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Südslaven, 275 ff. But see especially Turner, Slavisches Familienrecht, 22, 24, who declares that the law of Black George was purely sumptuary, not dealing at all with the price of the bride, but with mere presents from the man's friends. The mistake, he says, originates in a wrong translation by Talvy, Serbische Volkslieder, II, Einleit., 2. Turner in general denies the former existence of wife-purchase among the Slavs, rejecting Schlözer's translation of Nestor, I, chap. 12, 124 ff., which passage is an important source usually cited in favor of former purchase. Kovalevsky, Mod. Customs and Anc. Laws of Russia, 26 ff., however, follows the usual interpretation of Nestor and the law of Black George, giving examples of alleged wife-purchase and its survivals. Cf. Post, op. cit., 182, 183; and Westermarck's chapter on "Marriage and Celibacy," especially, 145.