The Evolution of Marriage and of the FamilyLetourneau, Ch. (Charles)
Science
The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family
Letourneau, Ch. (Charles)
Families; Marriage
The legal owner of the Kabyle woman generally gives her, at her
wedding, garments and jewels; or rather, he lends them to her, for it
is forbidden to the woman to dispose of them, and at her death these
precious articles must be returned to her relatives.[425]
An essential condition of the Kabyle marriage, as of the Arab, is the
payment of a certain price, generally debated, but which certain tribes
of southern Jurjura have fixed once for all. This price is called the
“turban” (_thâmanth_), as with us “pin-money” is spoken of. A penal
sanction guarantees the payment of the _thâmanth_ and the delivery of
the person sold.[426]
In principle the woman has no right over the _thâmanth_.[427]
Besides the purchase money, or _thâmanth_, the Kabyle further
stipulates in addition that he shall receive a certain quantity of
provisions (cattle, or food, flour, oil, butter) to be consumed during
the marriage festivities.
The villages which have tariffed the _thâmanth_ have also fixed the
amount of these presents.
The father likewise stipulates, for the benefit of the daughter who is
sold, a gift of garments and of jewels; but this gift dispenses the
husband from providing in this respect for the maintenance of the wife
during one year. This is particularly necessary, because the bride, in
quitting her parents, leaves them all that she has received,[428] and
takes away nothing but her body.
It is sometimes the mother who thus makes the conjugal sale of her
daughter, but on condition of being recognised as guardian; and even
then she does not enjoy, like the father, an unrestrained power, and
she has to consult her daughter.[429]
Once purchased, the Kabyle wife is entirely at the mercy of the
husband-proprietor. She must follow him wherever it suits him to
settle; her only actual possession is the raiment which covers her.
Her husband has the right to chastise her with his fist, with a stick,
with a stone, or even with a poignard. He is only forbidden to kill her
without a reasonably serious motive.[430]
If, however, when she has become a mother, she is unable to suckle her
child, the law decides that the husband is obliged to provide a wet
nurse;[431] though this is more for the child’s sake than the mother’s,
as she cares little enough about the infant.
The married woman is considered so entirely as property in Kabyle that
the prolonged absence of the master is allowed to set her free. In this
case she belongs, after four years, to her maternal relations, who
have the right to re-marry her--that is to say, to re-sell her--unless
the absent husband has left her a sufficient provision. However, the
husband’s parents can delay the dissolution of the first marriage,
sometimes for seven years, sometimes for ten years, but on condition of
taking the place of the absent husband in furnishing the deserted wife
with food and clothes.[432]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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