[139] The monograph of DR. KARL SCHMIDT, _Jus primae noctis_, is the most elaborate work on the subject. The author denies (41 ff., 365 ff., 379) that the custom existed in feudal Europe or elsewhere as a _right_; and he holds that the practices so called are not evidences of promiscuity. His views are sharply criticised by HELLWALD, _Die mensch. Familie_, 349 n. 4; and especially by KOHLER, in _ZVR._, IV, 279-87. SCHMIDT has a supplementary discussion in _ZFE._, XVI, 44 ff.; and is reviewed unfavorably by KOHLER, _ZVR._, V, 397-406. See also SCHMIDT'S _Slavische Geschichtsquellen zur Streitfrage über das Jus Primae Noctis_; KOHLER, _Urgeschichte der Ehe_, 140; _idem_, in _ZVR._, VII, 350, 351; VIII, 85; SCHNEIDER, _Die Naturvölker_, II, 471-73; GIRAUD-TEULON, _op. cit._, 32-41; WEINHOLD, _Die deutschen Frauen_, I, 300, 301; LETOURNEAU, _L'évolution du mariage_, 56-62; SUGGENHEIM, _Geschichte der Aufhebung der Leibeigenschaft_, 104, who believes the "right of the lord" existed in France far down into the Middle Ages; BACHOFEN, _Mutterrecht_, 12, 13, 17, 18, _passim_; POST, _Anfänge_, 17, 18; _idem_, _Geschlechtsgenoss._, 37; KULISCHER, "Die communale Zeitehe," in _Archiv für Anthropologie_, XI, 228 ff., who refers to the recent existence of the alleged custom in Russia; FRIEDRICHS, in _ZVR._, X, 214, 215; STARCKE, _op. cit._, 124-26. There is a learned discussion in the quaint _De uxore theotisca_, cap. i, of GRUPEN; the literature cited in Bibliographical Note II should be consulted; and Schmidt has appended a very full bibliography to his book. The term _jus primae noctis_ is especially applied to the alleged "right of the lord" in feudal times; but the existence of even this custom as a legal privilege is still an unsettled question. [140] The custom is for the men "to buy the women whom they marry of their fathers and relatives at a high price, and then to take them to a chief, who is considered to be a priest, to deflower them and see if she is a virgin; and if she is not, they have to return the whole price, and he can keep her for his wife or not, or let her be consecrated, as he chooses." In the same connection, Castañeda says, "among them are men dressed like women who marry other men and serve as their wives;" and he describes also a curious kind of legal or consecrated prostitution existing among the same people: see the translation of Castañeda's account in WINSHIP'S "Coronado Expedition, 1540-2," _XIV. Rep. of Bureau of Eth._, 513, 514. _Cf._ FAWCETT, "On Basivis: Women, Who, through Dedication to a Deity, Assume Masculine Privileges," _Jour. Anth. Soc._ (Bombay), II (1891), 322-54.