The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 16 of 55: 1609; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 16 of 55: 1609; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
The dowry was furnished by the man, being given by his parents. The
wife furnished nothing for the marriage, until she had inherited it
from her parents. The solemnity of the marriage consisted in nothing
more than the agreement between the parents and relatives of the
contracting parties, the payment of the dowry agreed upon to the father
of the bride, [148] and the assembling at the wife's parents' house of
all the relatives to eat and drink until they would fall down. At night
the man took the woman to his house and into his power, and there she
remained. These marriages were annulled and dissolved for slight cause,
with the examination and judgment of the relatives of both parties,
and of the old men, who acted as mediators in the affairs. At such
a time the man took the dowry (which they call _vigadicaya_), [149]
unless it happened that they separated through the husband's fault;
for then it was not returned to him, and the wife's parents kept
it. The property that they had acquired together was divided into
halves, and each one disposed of his own. If one made any profits in
which the other did not have a share or participate, he acquired it
for himself alone.
The Indians were adopted one by another, in presence of the
relatives. The adopted person gave and delivered all his actual
possessions to the one who adopted him. Thereupon he remained
in his house and care, and had a right to inherit with the other
children. [150]
Adulteries were not punishable corporally. If the adulterer paid the
aggrieved party the amount adjudged by the old men and agreed upon
by them, then the injury was pardoned, and the husband was appeased
and retained his honor. He would still live with his wife and there
would be no further talk about the matter.
In inheritances all the legitimate children inherited equally from
their parents whatever property they had acquired. If there were any
movable or landed property which they had received from their parents,
such went to the nearest relatives and the collateral side of that
stock, if there were no legitimate children by an ynasaba. This was
the case either with or without a will. In the act of drawing a will,
there was no further ceremony than to have written it or to have
stated it orally before acquaintances.
If any chief was lord of a barangai, then in that case, the eldest son
of an ynasaba succeeded him. If he died, the second son succeeded. If
there were no sons, then the daughters succeeded in the same order. If
there were no legitimate successors, the succession went to the
nearest relative belonging to the lineage and relationship of the
chief who had been the last possessor of it.
If any native who had slave women made concubines of any of them,
and such slave woman had children, those children were free, as was
the slave. But if she had no children, she remained a slave. [151]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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