Widows and Wives. can give nothing but her headgear; and lend her sieve, and that as far as her voice can be heard from the dunghill requesting its re turn." 1 The statutory value of a sieve, a riddle, and a bonnet was each a penny.2 A woman was not allowed either to buy or sell, unless she was a proprietrix.3 If a wife uttered a harsh or disgraceful word to her husband, she had to pay him three kine as camlwrw, for "he is her lord;" "or he might strike her three blows with a rod, a cubit long, on any part he chose, except the head." If a man beat his wife without cause, he had to pay her saraad (a fine for an in sult) to her according to her station.4 A husband had a right to beat his wife for three things without giving her saraad : first, for giving away anything which she ought not to give; second, for being detected with another man in a covert : and third, for wish ing drivel on his beard.6 Under the Koran a man might rebuke, imprison, or scourge his wife. In India a husband could chastise his wife with a rope, or a small shoot of cane.6 In both England and France a like wholesome discipline was permitted. Old Mat. Bacon says : " The husband hath, by law, power and dominion over his wife, and may keep her by force within the bounds of duty, and may beat her, but not in a violent or cruel manner: for in such case, or if he but threatened to beat her outrageously, or use her barbarously, she may bind him to the peace by suing a writ of supplicavit out of Chancery, or may apply to the spiritual court for a divorce propter scevitiam." 7 "Tout mari peut battre sa femme quand elle ne veut pas obeir a son commandement, ou quand elle le maudit, ou quand elle dunant, pourvu que ce soit moderement et sans que mort s'ensuive." 8 Even a drunken and 1 2 « • 5 • • 8
Book u. ch. 1, § 39. Ven. C. B. III. ch. 22. Ven. C. B. II. ch. 1, tj 60. Dim. C. B. II. ch. 18, §§ 5, 6. Ven. C. B. II. ch. t, § 39. Sara, ii. 230; Menu, Private and Criminal Laws, 299. liac. Abr. tit. Baron and Feme, B. Legouve, n. 148.
571
insoleiu wife cannot now be violently beaten in Massachusetts; and Emily Emma Maude Jackson has shown that the law in England is not what it used to be.1 For every offence a woman committed in those Arcadian days in Wales her kindred had to pay as for a man, unless she was in Hymen's bonds : then her husband and her self had to pay her camlwrw and her dirwy (fines, the former of three kine or ninescore pence, the latter of twelve kine, or three pounds). The three peculiars of a woman are — so saith the Code of Howel Dha — her cowyll, her gowyn, and her saraad; the reason these three are called three peculiars is because they are the three proprieties of a woman, and cannot be taken from her for any cause : her cowyll is what she receives for her maidenhood : her saraad is for every beating given her by her husband (except for the three things), and her gowyn is, if she detect her husband with another woman, let him pay her sixscore pence for the first offence, for the second one pound : if she detect him a third time she can separate from him, with out losing anything that belongs to her; and if she endure without separation, after the third offence, she is not entitled to any satis faction; and the property she may obtain for the above three things is to be apart from her husband.2 Flirting was not looked upon with any favor by the eye of Howel's laws. If a mar ried woman gave a kiss to any man other than her own, it was an odious deed, and the husband could repudiate her for it; and she forfeited the whole of her rights by giving the kiss, for that and nothing more. The man who got the sweet morsel had to pay the husband two thirds of his saraad (fine for insult), and that whether the kiss was given to her unawares, or what way soever : he also had to pay her the fourth part of her sa raad, "unless it be in the play which is called 1 Com. v. McAfee, 108 Mass. 458; Reg. v. Jackson (1891), 1 Q. B. 671. 2 Ven. C. B. II. ch. 1, § 39.
