The Evolution of Marriage and of the FamilyLetourneau, Ch. (Charles)
Science
The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family
Letourneau, Ch. (Charles)
Families; Marriage
In lamaic Thibet, where marriage is a simple civil convention, with
which the theocratic government of the country does not interfere,
marriages are dissolved, as they are made, by mere mutual consent;
but this consent is necessary, and there only results a separation
analogous to ours, and taking from the separated couple the power to
re-marry.[781] With the nomad Mongols we find, in spite of a relative
civilisation, the absolute right of repudiation left to the husband
alone, as it is in savage countries. The Mongol husband who is tired
of his wife, whom, besides, he has purchased, can send her back to her
parents without giving the least reason; he simply loses the oxen,
sheep, and horses that he has paid for her. On their side, the parents
make no difficulty of taking her back, for they have the right to sell
her again. The Mongol wife can also spontaneously quit her husband;
but this is not so simple a matter, because she represents a value.
It is a capital that has fled; therefore the parents must send her
back four times following to the husband-proprietor. If the latter
persists in not receiving her, the marriage is dissolved, but in that
case the parents must restore a part of the cattle previously paid
by the marital purchaser.[782] In short, repudiation and divorce are
considered in Mongolia entirely as commercial transactions, and always
arranged for the advantage of the husband.
The Chinese have regulated this still quite primitive divorce, and
while leaving to the husband the right of repudiation, they have
carefully specified the conditions of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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