Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-04

The moaalc Law IN the ohlo heetaihtANe
Judge Keys's bill concerning the rights
and liabilities Of married women" which is
to vest her with certain rights in her "
property, was argued at length Id the Ohio
Senate on Thursday. The arguments against
the bill seem to have been almost entirely
based on the Mosaic law. II strikes us that if
the Mosaic oede Is 70 govern the Ohio Legis-
lature, the first requisite for a legislator
should be circumcision end IL seems a
strange inconsistency that Senators should
subject the woman Of Ohio to that law, when
they know that according to it they lack the
seal of admission either into the cougrega-
ton of the Lord, or into the kingdom Of
Heaven; that is, IL the Jews of that day
knew any thing about any future state, con-
corning which the law from Mt. Sinai was
perfectly silent, although it was exceedingly
minute in ceremonials.
There seems to be strange fascination to
some men in our day, in a code which gave
the patriarchs the run Of the flock. If the
Mosaic law is to govern the State Of Ohio,
why should Senators insist only On those
features of the domestic relation which abro-
gate the personal existence of women Why
not secure to the women the rights which
they had by that law2 By that law a widow
could claim her husbands brother in mar
rage; and so on, if she was a fatal widow,
nr;;i - had exhausted the list Of brothers,
If any of them refused to come to time, the
following solemn legal ceremony took place
which should be Immediately enacted into
the Ohio statutes, as soon as the legislators
have observed the rite which was comment
GRATED by Mount Gilgal.
'And IL the man like not to take his brother's
wife then let his brothers wife go up to the gate
unto the elders and say, : MY husbands brother re-
fuseth TO raise up unto his brother a name in Is
rsel he. will not perform the duty of a husbands
linen the elder Of the city shall call him and
speak unto him, aud i he stand to it, aud say
"Tbep shall his brothers wife come unto him, in
the presence Of the elders, and loose his shoe from
III his foot, and spit, il hi, face, AID shall an
that will not build up hi brothers house ;
A bic name s6 ; l., be !, called G e. in IN Israeli The
This "woman's right" also extended to
the next of kin to her husband, to the most
remote degree; and we have in the inspired
book of Ruth a striking instance of the prac.
teal operation of this divine law, for the es
pecial edi6cation of young women. Why
should grave and reverend Legislators lay
Mosaic burdens on women's shoulders, while
they themselves will not so much as touch
them with their little fngers2 If the mer
of Ohio are to have the patriarchal privileges
of the Mosaic law, let the women also have
the pittance of privilege which it doles ouI
to them.
What confidence must the Senators have
in the popular credulity, or what kind o
information must they have of the law o
which they talk, when they refer to thu
Mosaic law as the standard of "modesty anC
virtue" and 'the only true rule of mora
ethics" and especially when they appeal t
it in favor of the sacred indissolubility of tn,
marriage bond. The Mosaic law of divorce
would be called a license for promiscuou
intercourse in our civilization. Here it is;
"Wben a ran hath taken a wife and married her
and it come 10 pass that she find no favor in hi
eyes, because he hath found some uncleauness i
her then let him write her a bill OF enforcement
and give it In her hand, and send her out OF hi
house"
What '~uncleanness" was, may be judgeI
by the fact that she was then free to MARI,
another; and so she could travel with he
certificate. 1t meant that if he did not Xix
her so well after marriage as before, he coul
send her to shift for herself.
The Hebrews themselves have abandone
their Mosaic law and developed with tn
growth of civilization. But, in this nine
tenth century, it is brought in to COVER
Ohio legislation, and the rules of commo
sense and of human rights, are set aside
What right nave these men to keep bacl
part of the law of God Pas they call tn
Mosaic law. Let us have itpure and simple
If at all; and let those Legislators, who wis
to restore the old dispensation, be first sub
iected to the Mosaic test.