Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-07
THE so-CALLED "HIGHER-LAw OF
BLooD-REvENGE FOR SEDUCTION.

BLooD-REvENGE FOR SEDUCTION.
Whenever, as not infrequently happens,
the faithlessness of married woman re-
suits in the staying of her paramour by the
husband, a disposition manifests itself to
treat such catastrophe as in a special
sense legitimate retribution, and many
people begin to refer to what they call the
'higher law according to which, it
seems, murder is not murder when the VIC
tim is seducer. Now, it ought to be
evident that so long as there is any con-
fusion In the public mind as to what the
law actually is in regard to matters OF this
kind, there will be embarrassment, inse-
curity, and unintentional wrong-doing.
There cannot conveniently be two kinds of
law; one represented in black and white
on the statute book, and the other unwrit-
ten. and loose enough to fit almost any
emergency. We must sooner or later IN
sist upon clearer understanding as to
what constitutes the crime of murder, and
as TO the nature of the conditions under
which homicide may be justified. 1t is
true that the statutes already define these
things with all necessary precision, but
when murders are committed it is not by
the statute that the penalty Is as
certained. Twelve men are then called
to adjudicate upon the case, and
to them lawyers address all man
ner of sentimental appeals, based upon
the imaginary "higher law above
spoken of, and assuming the validity of
this intangible ordinance to be as great as
that of the written law. 1t is therefore
very necessary that some effort should be
made to clear away the fog from this sub
iect, and to arrive at some means OF liking
a standard of action which will not run
counter to progress and civilization. At
present it seems to be quite generally held
as an article of faith that if a man seduces
a married woman the husband IS justified
in killing him. 1t is necessary to analyze
this theory in order to ascertain its genesis.
We shall then perceive that it has in truth
nothing in common with civilization, but
that it originated in theory of woman's
position in society which has been long
since abandoned by intelligent commune
ties. The idea that the "honor" of the
husband is violated and outraged by the
seduction of his wife may be traced to the
period when the woman was regarded as
chattel, and when the husband resented
any i'll done to her as he would have re-
scented an affront put upon his dog The
idea further comprehends the sense of mo-
nopoly which specially appertains to
ownership. The seduction is resented
as an invasion of property rights.
There is no intellectual notion con-
nected with the angry sentiment.
1t must further be observed that
the barbarous way of regarding the
marriage relation is borne out by the ex-
clusion of the woman's share in the trans.
action altogether. She is not taken into
account as the equal of man in mental
power and capacity for choice. She is
completely ignored as one who has no part
in the controversy, or as one who belongs
so utterly to another as to have no right of
Judgment whatever. There is nothing
civilized in this attitude. 1t is alike bar
baruus and unphilosophical. Indeed, the
theory of seduction which postulates the
man as an aggressive, persistent, overbear-
ing agent, and the woman as weak, help
less, yielding agent, is drawn altogether
from an uncivilized condition of society,
and finds no warrant in the theories of the
relations of the sexes which obtain now.
The whole homicidal higher law hypothe-
sis, in fact, may be shown to rest upon
medieval notions of woman's position. 1t
is as chattel and dependent that she is
here regarded. She is not allowed to
think or act for herself She cannot even
be held responsible, and that condition of
responsibility is one OF the surest marks
of servitude to be found.
1t cannot be said that the o.called
"higher law" has anything in common
with Christianity. That religion, indeed,
from its foundation taught the equality of
responsibility resting upon man and wife.