[CHAPTER XVIII]
THE KILLING OF WOMEN, AND OF SLAVES—THE CRIMINALITY OF HOMICIDE INFLUENCED BY DISTINCTIONS OF CLASS
The husband’s power of life and death over his wife among many of the lower races, p. [418] sq.—The right of punishing his wife capitally not universally granted to the husband in uncivilised communities, p. [419].—The husband’s power of life and death among peoples of a higher type, [ibid.]—Uxoricide punished less severely than matricide, p. [419] sq.—The estimate of a woman’s life sometimes lower than that of a man’s, sometimes equal to it, sometimes higher, p. [420] sq.—The master’s power of life and death over his slave, p. [421] sq.—The right, among many savages, of killing his slave at his own discretion expressly denied to the master, p. [422] sq.—The murder of another person’s slave largely regarded as an offence against the property of the owner, but not exclusively looked upon in this light, p. [423].—When the system of blood-money prevails, the price paid for the life of a slave less than that paid for the life of a freeman, [ibid.]—Among the nations of archaic culture, also, the life of a slave held in less estimation than that of a freeman, but not even the master in all circumstances allowed to put his slave to death, pp. [423]–426.—Efforts of the Christian Church to secure the life of the slave against the violence of the master, p. [426].—But neither the ecclesiastical nor the secular legislation gave him the same protection as was bestowed upon the free member of the Church and State, pp. [426]–428.—In modern times, in Christian countries, the life of the negro slave was only inadequately protected by law, p. [428] sq.—Why the life of a slave is held in so little regard, p. [429].—The killing of a freeman by a slave, especially if the victim be his owner, commonly punished more severely than if the same act were done by a free person, p. [429] sq.—In the estimate of life a distinction also made between different classes of freemen, p. [430] sq.—The magnitude of the crime may depend not only on the rank of the victim, but on the rank of the manslayer as well, pp. [431]–433.—Explanation of this influence of class, p. [433].—In progressive societies each member of the society at last admitted to be born with an equal claim to the right to live, [ibid.]
[CHAPTER XIX]
HUMAN SACRIFICE
The prevalence of human sacrifice, pp. [434]–436.—This practice much more frequently found among barbarians and semi-civilised peoples than among genuine savages, p. [436] sq.—Among some peoples it has been noticed to become increasingly prevalent in the course of time, p. [437].—Human sacrifice partly due to the idea that gods have an appetite for human flesh or blood, p. [437] sq.—Sometimes connected with the idea that gods require attendants, p. [438].—Moreover, an angry god may be appeased simply by the death of him or those who aroused his anger, or of some representative of the offending community, or of somebody belonging to the kin of the offender, pp. [438]–440.—Human sacrifice chiefly a method of life-insurance, based on the idea of substitution, p. [440].—Human victims offered in war, before a battle, or during a siege, p. [440] sq.—For the purpose of stopping or preventing epidemics, p. [441] sq.—For the purpose of putting an end to a devastating famine, p. [442] sq.—For the purpose of preventing famine, p. [443] sq.—Criticism of Dr. Frazer’s hypothesis that the human victim who is killed for the purpose of ensuring good crops is regarded as a representative of the corn-spirit and is slain as such, pp. [444]–451.—Human victims offered with a view to getting water, p. [451] sq.—With a view to averting perils arising from the sea or from rivers, pp. [452]–454.—For the purpose of preventing the death of some particular individual, especially a chief or a king, from sickness, old age, or other circumstances, pp. [454]–457.—For the purpose of helping other men into existence, p. [457] sq.—The killing of the first-born child, or the first-born son, p. [458] sq.—Explanation of this practice, pp. [459]–461.—Human sacrifices offered in connection with the foundation of buildings, p. [461] sq.—The building-sacrifice, like other kinds of human sacrifice, probably based on the idea of substitution, pp. [462]–464.—The belief that the soul of the victim is converted into a protecting demon, p. [464] sq.—The human victim regarded as a messenger, p. [465] sq.—Human sacrifice not an act of wanton cruelty, p. [466].—The king or chief sometimes sacrificed, [ibid.]—The victims frequently prisoners of war or other aliens, or slaves, or criminals, pp. [466]–468.—The disappearance of human sacrifice, p. [468].—Human sacrifice condemned, p. [465] sq.—Practices intended to replace it, p. [469].—Human effigies or animals offered instead of men, p. [469] sq.—Human sacrifices succeeded by practices involving the effusion of human blood without loss of life, p. [470].—Bleeding or mutilation practised for the same purpose as human sacrifice, p. [470] sq.—Why the penal sacrifice of offenders has outlived all other forms of human sacrifice, p. [471].—Human beings sacrificed to the dead in order to serve them as slaves, wives, or companions, pp. [472]–474.—This custom dwindling into a survival, p. [475].—The funeral sacrifice of men and animals also seems to involve an intention to vivify the spirits of the deceased with blood, p. [475] sq.—Manslayers killed in order to satisfy their victims’ craving for revenge, p. [476].
[CHAPTER XX]
BLOOD-REVENGE AND COMPENSATION—THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH
The prevalence of the custom of blood-revenge, pp. [477]–479.—Blood-revenge regarded not only as a right, but as a duty, p. [479] sq.—This duty in the first place regarded as a duty to the dead, whose spirit is believed to find no rest after death until the injury has been avenged, p. [481] sq.—Blood-revenge a form of human sacrifice, p. [482].—Blood-revenge also practised on account of the injury inflicted on the survivors, p. [482] sq.—Murder committed within the family or kin left unavenged, p. [483].—The injury inflicted on the relatives of the murdered man suggests not only revenge, but reparation, [ibid.]—The taking of life for life may itself, in a way, serve as compensation, p. [483] sq.—Various methods of compensation, p. [484].—The advantages of the practice of composition, p. [484] sq.—Its disadvantages, p. [485].—The importance of these disadvantages depends on the circumstances in each special case, p. [486] sq.—Among many peoples the rule of revenge strictly followed, and to accept compensation considered disgraceful, p. [487].—The acceptance of compensation does not always mean that the family of the slain altogether renounce their right of revenge, p. [487] sq.—The acceptance of compensation allowed as a justifiable alternative for blood-revenge, or even regarded as the proper method of settling the case, p. [488] sq.—The system of compensation partly due to the pressure of some intervening authority, p. [489] sq.—The adoption of this method for the settling of disputes a sign of weakness, p. [491].—When the central power of jurisdiction is firmly established, the rule of life for life regains its sway, [ibid.]—A person may forfeit his right to live by other crimes besides homicide, p. [491] sq.—Opposition to and arguments against capital punishment, pp. [492]–495.—Modern legislation has undergone a radical change with reference to capital punishment, p. [495].—Arguments against its abolition, p. [495] sq.—The chief motive for retaining it in modern legislation, p. [496].