Chapter XVIII

THE KILLING OF WOMEN, AND OF SLAVES--THE CRIMINALITY OF HOMICIDE INFLUENCED BY DISTINCTIONS OF CLASS

The husband's power of life and death over his wife among many of the lower races, p. 418 _sq._--The right of punishing his wife capitally not universally {xvi} granted to the husband in uncivilised communities, p. 419.--The husband's power of life and death among peoples of a higher type, _ibid._--Uxoricide punished less severely than matricide, p. 419 _sq._--The estimate of a woman's life sometimes lower than that of a man's, sometimes equal to it, sometimes higher, p. 420 _sq._--The master's power of life and death over his slave, p. 421 _sq._--The right, among many savages, of killing his slave at his own discretion expressly denied to the master, p. 422 _sq._--The murder of another person's slave largely regarded as an offence against the property of the owner, but not exclusively looked upon in this light, p. 423.--When the system of blood-money prevails, the price paid for the life of a slave less than that paid for the life of a freeman, _ibid._--Among the nations of archaic culture, also, the life of a slave held in less estimation than that of a freeman, but not even the master in all circumstances allowed to put his slave to death, pp. 423-426.--Efforts of the Christian Church to secure the life of the slave against the violence of the master, p. 426.--But neither the ecclesiastical nor the secular legislation gave him the same protection as was bestowed upon the free member of the Church and State, pp. 426-428.--In modern times, in Christian countries, the life of the negro slave was only inadequately protected by law, p. 428 _sq._--Why the life of a slave is held in so little regard, p. 429.--The killing of a freeman by a slave, especially if the victim be his owner, commonly punished more severely than if the same act were done by a free person, p. 429 _sq._--In the estimate of life a distinction also made between different classes of freemen, p. 430 _sq._--The magnitude of the crime may depend not only on the rank of the victim, but on the rank of the manslayer as well, pp. 431-433. --Explanation of this influence of class, p. 433.--In progressive societies each member of the society at last admitted to be born with an equal claim to the right to live, _ibid._