A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 2 of 3Howard, George Elliott
History
A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 2 of 3
Howard, George Elliott
Families; Marriage -- History
The case against Ralph Doxy is complicated by additional charges.
The fiscal makes no direct reference to the unauthorized celebration
or to the failure to publish the banns, though from the judgment
of the court we perceive that these offenses were considered; but
accuses him of entering "in an unlawful manner, into the married
state with Mary van Harris, making use for that purpose, of a forged
certificate," further alleging that he "hath still a wife alive who
resides in New England;" for which delinquencies he ought to be
severely whipped and "banished the country forever, with costs." In
his reply, Doxy "denies ever having been married to a woman before,"
but confesses "his guilt as regards the forged certificate," saying
"that through love for Mary Harris he had allowed it to be executed
by a certain Englishman, now gone to the Barbadoes, and therefore
prays forgiveness." The court declared the marriage unlawful on
the two counts for which Fabricius was suspended; but "finding the
charge against him of having a second (_sic_) wife in New England
unfounded, he is therefore permitted to confirm himself in wedlock
with the abovenamed Mary, according to the laws of the government."
For the forged certificate "he is pardoned for this time on his
promise of improvement, and request for forgiveness[825]."
[Footnote 825: O'CALLAGHAN, _op. cit._, II, 691, 692. On these
two cases see FOWLER, _Letter and Opinion_, 60 ff. (Lauderdale
Peerage Case).]
With the exception of the restriction put upon bundling, if that
were indeed the purpose of the act of 1658, the Dutch law-makers do
not seem to have busied themselves with the regulation of courtship.
Sexual transgressions were severely dealt with, although not with
the same rigor as in New England or even in early Virginia. Neither
the death penalty nor the scarlet letter appears. Fornicators,
if single, were required to contract marriage or pay a heavy
fine.[826] Adulterers fared worse. Some illustrations from the
judicial records in such cases have been gleaned by Cowley from the
_Colonial Manuscripts_. Among these are the sentence to whipping and
banishment of Ytie [Yutie] Jansen, "for living in adultery with Jan
Parcel, and also the sentence of Laurens Duyts, who, for selling his
wife, Yutie Jansen, and forcing her to live in adultery with another
man, and for living also himself in adultery, was 'to have a rope
tied around his neck, and to be severely flogged; to have his right
ear cut off, and to be banished for fifty years.' John Parcel, for
living in adultery with this Yutie Jansen, whom he had thus bought
from her own husband, was 'to be placed at the whipping-post, with
two rods in his arm,' to be banished twenty years and pay a fine of
a hundred guilders [forty dollars], with costs. The fourth party,
Geesje Jansen, for living in adultery with Laurens Duyts, was 'to
be conducted to the whipping-post, and fastened thereto, the upper
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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