A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3

by George Elliott Howard

[848] Schroeder, Güterrecht, I, 24 ff., 82, 83, has shown that this is probable; and such is the view of Grimm, Rechtsalt., 423, 424. Zoepfl, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, III, 4, believes Tacitus, "vermengt unverkennbar die verschiedenen Gaben, welche nach den Volksrechten des folgenden Zeitraumes unter der Bezeichnung als pretium und Morgengabe hervortreten, wovon die eine dem Vater oder Vormund der Frau, und die andere dieser selbst gebührte;" and the arms given by the bride to the bridegroom he identifies with the later well-known ceremony of "girding" the youth on reaching majority. Cf. on this passage also Heusler, Institutionen, II, 277; Thudicum, Der altdeutsche Staat, 148, 186; Laboulaye, Cond. des femmes, 113; Siegel, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, 452; Gide, Étude sur la cond. privée de la femme, 205 ff.; Ficker, Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte, III, 416-19, 394, believes Tacitus here describes correctly the Vidumsehe, the marriage in which the Vidum or price came to the woman herself.

[849] Schroeder, Güterrecht, I, 50; idem, Rechtsgeschichte, 292; Sohm, Trauung und Verlobung, 15; Laboulaye, op. cit., 113.

[850] Æthelb., 77; Thorpe, Ancient Laws, 22, 23, and n. 3; Schmid, Gesetze, 8, 9. Liebermann, 7, renders the first part of this passage: "Wenn jemand eine Jungfrau [zur Ehe] kauft, sei sie durch [Braut] Kaufgeld [giltig] erkauft, falls das [Rechtsgeschäft] untrügerisch ist." Cf. Poeniten. Theod., XVI, 29; Thorpe, II, 11, or Poeniten. Theod., II, xii, § 34, in Wasserschleben's Bussordnungen, 216; with Confess. Ecgb., § 20: Thorpe, II, 147; or the same in Wasserschleben, 309. See also Schroeder, Güterrecht, I, 51 n. 9.

[851] Æthelb., 82, 83; Thorpe, I, 24, 25; Liebermann, 8; cf. Schroeder, op. cit., 51 n. 10.

[852] Opet, Die erbrechtliche Stellung der Weiber in der Zeit der Volksrechte, 82 ff. This monograph may be compared with that of Amira, Erbenfolge und Verwandtschaftsgliederung nach dem altniederdeutschen Rechte, 83, 84. Roeder, Die Familie bei den Angelsachsen, 15 ff., takes a conservative position. In general on old English marriage see Phillips, Geschichte des angelsächs. Rechts, 129-33; Davoud-Oghlou, II, 355-60; Young, in Essays, 163 ff.; Friedberg, Eheschliessung, 33 ff.; Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Church (2d ed.), I, 6 ff.; Traill, Social England, I, 215, 216; Gide, Étude sur la cond. privée de la femme, 237, 196 ff.; Pollock and Maitland, Hist. of Eng. Law, II, 362 ff.; Buckstaff, in Annals, IV, 233; Ludlow, in Dict. of Christ. Ant., I, 203, 143. There is also a good discussion by Glasson, Hist. du droit et des inst. de l'Angleterre, I, 104-33; an account of the Anglo-Saxon bride in Grupen, De uxore theotisca, 221-55; interesting details in Thrupp, The Anglo-Saxon Home, 19-76; Wright, Hist. of Doms. Manners and Sentiments, 53-56; Turner, Hist. of Manners and Landed Property of Anglo-Saxons, 108, 113-15; and Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, I, 32-45, who gives an interesting discussion regarding the Anglo-Saxon woman, as a chattel subject to sale, even in the historical period. "To these ancient arrangements for the transference of women from their fathers to their matrimonial suitors, and for protecting the property in them against nefarious aggressors," he declares, "must be referred the barbarous spirit in which the law still persists in regarding a certain class of atrocious outrages on morality as mere infringements of private right. We reflect with astonishment on the conduct of our distant progenitors, who legalized traffic in womankind, but we persevere, so far as law is concerned, in dealing with the seducer as though his offence were nothing graver than a violation of personal privileges, for which a payment of money to one of the injured persons is the appropriate penalty" (I, 42, 43).

[853] An exhaustive study of these laws is, of course, not attempted. They are thoroughly exploited in the works of Sohm, Brunner, Schroeder, Friedberg, Dargun, and others.

[854] "Legati offerentes solidum et denarium, ut mos erat Francorum, eam partibus Chlodovei sponsant: placitum ad praesens petentes, ut ipsam ad conjugium traderet Chlodoveo."—Fredegarius, Greg. Turon. hist. epit., c. xviii: in Guadet and Taranne's ed., IV, 172, 173; or in Giesebrecht's trans., II, 273-75. Compare Sohm, Eheschliessung, 32 n. 21; Schroeder, Güterrecht, I, 55 n. 3, and authorities cited; Meril, Des formes, 30; Leber, Des Coutumes, 24; Weinhold, Deutsche Frauen, I, 323; Friedberg, Eheschliessung, 19 n. 7. The price of a maid is not fixed in the lex salica; but in c. 44 the price of a widow is given (Behrend, 58); and elsewhere the woman's mund is fixed at 62¹⁄₂ solidi. Ficker, Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte, III, 400, 401, regards the arrha, not as a survival of the bride-price, but as a symbol of mutual troth.

[855] Sohm, op. cit., 29 n. 15; Friedberg, Eheschliessung, 19. Cf., however, Weinhold, op. cit., I, 323, who says that wife-purchase has disappeared from the Bavarian and Alamannian laws. See Pertz and Brunner's ed., Mon. germ. hist.: legum, III, 183-496 (Leges baiuwariorum), 1-182 (Leges alamannorum).

[856] Puella empta appears in the Pactus alamannorum, 3, 29. Cf. Schroeder, Güterrecht, I, 17 ff.; Weinhold, op. cit., I, 323; Friedberg, op. cit., 19.

[857] "Lito regis liceat uxorem emere, ubicunqui voluerit. Sed non liceat ullam foeminam vendere."—Lex saxonum, tit. 18: Walter, Corpus juris germ., I, 389. Tit. 6 fixes the price at 300 solidi: Walter, I, 386.