Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-11-18
was established among the institutions Of mod

was established among the institutions of mod
ern people.
| The power of the husband over his wife and
children was unlimited in Gaul under the
reign OF Caesar, as well as in Rome. AS hus-
band and father, he had over them the right Of
life and death. In the period of the Empire.
Tree marriage was the only one in usage, with an
addition of polygamy among the great. Mono
gamy was confined to the inferior classes. The
consent OF parents, or portion, were not of
absolute necessity in such alliances Some
times, however, the wife brought them under
the connubial roof Her portion was some
times composed of paraphernalia or ertradotal
properties, such as were seen at Rome in the
beginning Of the fifth century. The husband
was then simply administrator of the estate,
and had to keep an account of il with his wife,
Such system would have been dangerous for
the authority Of the husband, and would proba-
bly, have disturbed the conjugal equilibrium,
if on the other hand the prescriptions Of Chris
tianity, the physical inferiority of the women,
and at later period, mutual donations Of
actual and future property, and at last, the
dover, had not lessened the domination. Plau-
tus and Cato complained Of it, but their COM
plants did not prevent the Emperor Justinian
from extending her privileges.
Now, let us see what takes place during the
Frank and Barbarian time. Here, the part OF
the husband changes he becomes the protec
tor fthe wealth Of his wife, He does not ex-
ercise, like the Roman husband, an egotistcal
control over her and his children; he is the tu-
tor of his family he protects his wife because
he loves her, because he has selected her as
the companion of his life, because he obtained
her with her parents consent, and because
Christianity spreading among the Barbarians
consecrates, with holy seal, the tie he has
contracted Tacitus used to say: The Ger
man people dread captivity more for their
wives than for themselves. This feeling is
such that the cities whose fidelity is the most
reliable are those which have given girls as
hostages" No concnbinage being allowed, there
was nohonorable marriage except thelegitimate
one. The woman is in every instance under
the guardianship of her husband, if she is legi-
timately welded; if not, she remains with her
father or relations and, if she has illigitimate
children, she keeps them with her. M. Mi
nier is not perhaps exactly correct, when he
says that bastards were under the guardianship
OF the king. think he is right when he says
that their estates came in to the public treasury
at their death. However, the laws ofthe Lom-
bards permitted them to inherit, but do not
believe that the mundium guardianship of
natural children born from concubine were
placed into the hands of the king.
| The number of iligitimate children among
the Franks must have been very large. The
husband often violated the law of equality-re-
stricting marriage to people Of some conditions.
Out of their matrimonial alliances, they had
Illicit intercourse with women in serfdom, and
with others also. Beside, as the owner of the
naendi'ms, or guardianship, the husband had the
right of reputation, and often availed himself of
1t, to take one or more concubnes. Notwith-
standing the opposition ofthe church, frequent
divorces introduced all sorts of disorder in the
families of the Franks and increased the num-
Der of illigitimate children, and that up to the
XIIth century.
The clergy did all il could at that time to
place impediments in the way of these disor
ders. Thanks to its influence, the family was
reorganized, and took more holy and digni-
fed character. From the year 1855, publicity
was given to marriages contracted by the no
bility and bourgeoisie, and the obligatory con.
servation Of the Church thus converted into
religious act, what had previously been mere
civil compact. This act, sealed as it were, in
presence Of God, was title Of nobility to the
spouses and families. This was a great step
towards the indissolubility of matrimony. It
had been unsuccessfully contested for by the |
Church during long series of years. 1t
favored the equality of woman in the family
circle previous TO the declaration made to that
effect in 1889. Hereafter, they and their des- |
cendauts we're the object of favorable laws pro- |
mulgated since the reign Of Childeric-and |
that, in consequence Of the evangelical maxims, |
that all children are equal in the eyes Of God, |
because they have been equally given by him.
After this, NJ. Miner goes through the feuda
time, during which the common law prevailed;
by the side Of the Roman law in the south, and |
Of the German law in the north. These diff |
ferent elements created different laws, accord |
ing to the origin, races, ranks, and manners,
till we arrive ut the most original part Of NJ
MINERS book, the Ordinances Of the French |
Kings. The unity Of French jurisprudence
commences with that time and takes the place
Of the diversity introduced by the feudal and
common law. The very name of ordinances
seems to indicate that order succeeded to con
fusion; that monarcbical authority was TO alb.