London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 4

by Henry Mayhew

Travellers, among whom Mary Wolstonecroft is one, have nevertheless complained direly of the situation women hold in Norway. One gentleman condemns the national character, because the ladies in respectable houses often wait at their own tables; but this is a national peculiarity, hereditary among the Norwegians. It is a voluntary office; no compulsion is used to impose this or any other task upon them. All that we can infer from such a custom is, the dissimilarity of ideas on points of propriety which prevail with different nations. The English pity the women of Norway, because they sometimes wait at their own tables; the Norwegians accuse the men in England of ill-breeding, because they do not take off their hats whenever a female appears in sight, and because they dismiss the ladies after dinner.

With respect to the actual morals of Norway, we may assign them the highest rank. The number of illegitimate births can scarcely be described, under the circumstances we have noticed, as indicating an immoral disposition in the people. Nowhere is adultery less frequent. The matrons are almost universally above suspicion, while street-walking and professional prostitution are almost unknown. The most profligate class of females appears to be the domestic servants[88].

Of Prostitution in Denmark.

In the laws of Denmark in 1834 the position of the sexes, the regulations of the marriage contracts, and the restrictions on public immorality were sought to be fixed, with every distinction of detail. A man was declared under tutelage until the age of eighteen, and under a modified authority until twenty-five, after which he attained independence in all the acts of his life as a citizen. The woman was declared to remain under tutelage all her life. Even the widow must place herself under a guardian, without whose consent she can do nothing; but this person she may choose herself. She may place herself under the direction of one or many, and even distribute authority among them, but is never allowed to assert an independent existence.

To contract marriage a man must be at least twenty years old, and the woman not under sixteen. The system of legal and binding betrothments was abandoned in 1799; but previous to that period the ceremony of affiancing the bridegroom to the bride was important and almost as absolute as the last ceremony itself.

To contract a legal marriage, it is essential that both persons shall be free from the ties of any other legal engagements. Persons who are related to each other in an ascending or descending line are prohibited from marrying. Brother and sister, says the code, may not marry; but brother-in-law and sister-in-law, uncle and niece, may. A man who desires to marry his mother’s or father’s sister must obtain a special permission from the government.

It is necessary before marriage to procure the consent of the parents or guardians of both parties; but if they refuse, their refusal may be complained of, and the judge, reproving them, may order the union to take place in spite of their opposition. At twenty-five years of age the man is released from this authority.

According to an ordonnance passed in 1734, promises of marriage may be written or verbal; a promise of marriage by written agreement must bear the handwriting, seal, and signature of him who makes it. It must be certified by two witnesses, respectable men, before there is any communication between the man and the woman. The verbal promise must also be spoken aloud in the presence of two respectable men, before any intercourse is allowed. Such engagements are binding, and the man who breaks one may be prosecuted at law.

There are, however, certain descriptions of persons whom the law does not allow to invoke the faith of such promises. Widows, who desire to act against their guardians’ consent, and women of bad reputation, are in this manner excluded. A servant cannot plead a promise of marriage against her master, her master’s son, or any person dwelling in the same house. A man may also repudiate, by a formal oath, the accusation of a pregnant woman who pretends he has promised her marriage, and that he is the father of the child she bears in her womb, unless she can prove her allegation by sufficient testimony.

Divorce is permitted, and may be pronounced immediately when legal cause is proved against one or other of a married pair. It may be demanded in the case of simple abandonment during seven years, or malicious intentional desertion for three years, in the case of condemnation to perpetual hard labour, of impotence existing previously to marriage, of the venereal disease contracted previously to marriage, of insanity supervening upon marriage, and of adultery. Divorce may also take place, without any judgment from the public tribunal, when both parties equally desire it.