The origin and development of the moral ideas

CLOSELY related to the right to life is the right to bodily integrity. Indeed, homicide is, generally speaking, the highest form of bodily injury which can, in the nature of things, be inflicted, although there are some forms of ill-treatment which are more terrible than death itself.1

In the case of bodily injuries the magnitude of the offence is, other things being equal, proportionate to the harm inflicted. At the lower stages of civilisation we meet with the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, or the offender has to pay an adequate compensation for the injury.2 It is said in the Laws of Manu that, if a blow is struck against men in order to give them pain, the judge shall inflict a fine in proportion to the amount of pain caused.3 According to Muhammedan law, retaliation for intentional wounds and mutilations is allowed, but a fine may be accepted instead. The fine for depriving a man of any of his five senses, or dangerously wounding him, or grievously disfiguring him for life, or cutting off a member that is single, as the nose, is the whole price of blood; the fine for a member of which there are two and not more, as a hand or a foot, is half the price of blood; the fine for a member of which there are ten, as a finger or a toe, is a tenth of the price of blood.4 The scale of fines for bodily injuries contained in many of the early Teutonic law-books is minute to a degree.5 According to various texts of the Salic law, 100 solidi—that is, a moiety of the wergeld—must be paid for depriving a man of a hand, foot, eye, or the nose; the thumb and great toe were valued at 50 solidi; the second finger with which the bow was drawn, at 35.6 With respect to other acts of violence, the fine varied according to several circumstances, as, whether the blow was given with a stick or with closed fist, whether the brain was laid bare, whether

certain bones were obtruded and how much, whether blood flowed from the wound on the ground, and so forth.7 In the Anglo-Saxon codes almost every part and particle of the body, every tooth, toe, and nail, had its price. According to the Laws of Aethelbirht, for instance, twenty shillings were paid for striking off a thumb, three for a thumb nail, eight for the forefinger, eleven for the little finger.8 In early Celtic law different amounts of injury were taxed with a similar affected precision.9 Nothing can better give us an idea of the business-like manner in which the whole subject was treated than the Irish law against castration. If the injured persons be people to whom the organs extirpated are of no use, “such as a decrepit old man or a man in orders, there is nothing due to them for the loss of them, but body-fine according to the severity of the wound.”10 After this one is almost surprised to read in the ancient laws of Ireland that, when a person had once been maimed, and received part or all of his body-fine, no subsequent wrong-doer could insist that the injured person should be rated as a damaged article.11

By using violence against their parents, children grossly offend against the duty of filial regard and submissiveness. It is said in the Laws of Ḫammurabi, that a man who has struck his father shall lose his hands.12 According to Exodus, “he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.”13 In Corea the man who strikes his father is beheaded.14 On the other hand, parents are allowed to inflict corporal punishment on their children; but this is not the case everywhere—indeed, among many of the lower races children are never, or hardly ever, subject to such punishment.15 Among the Australian Dieyerie the children are never beaten, and should any woman violate this law, she is in turn beaten by her husband.16 The Efatese, says Mr. Macdonald, “are shocked to see Europeans correcting their children; I never saw an Efatese beating a child.”17 The Eskimo visited by Mr. Hall never inflict physical chastisement upon the children; “if a child does wrong—for instance, if it becomes enraged, the mother says nothing to it till it becomes calm. Then she talks to it, and with good effect.”18 Among the Tehuelches of Patagonia “the children are indulged in every way, ride the best horses, and are not corrected for any misbehaviour.”19 Among the Gaika tribe of the Kafirs, again, parents may inflict corporal punishment on their children, but are fined for causing permanent injuries to their persons, such as the loss of an eye or a tooth.20

The power which the husband possesses over his wife much more commonly implies the right of inflicting pain on her than of punishing her capitally; but even among savages and barbarians the former right is not universally granted to him. The Pelew Islanders do not allow a husband to beat his wife.21 Among various Eskimo tribes the women are rarely, if ever, beaten.22 Among the Central Eskimo the husband “is not allowed to maltreat or punish his wife; if he does, she may leave him at any time, and the wife’s mother can always command a divorce.”23 Many, or most, of the North American Indians consider it disgraceful for a husband to beat his wife.24 Among the Kalmucks a man has no right to raise his hand against a woman.25 Among the Madis women are never beaten.26 Among the Ondonga a man is not allowed to chastise his wife.27 Among the Gaika tribe of the Kafirs “a husband may beat his wife for misconduct; but if he should strike out her eye or a tooth, or otherwise maim her, he is fined at the discretion of the Chief.”28 According to the native code of Malacca, “a man may beat his wife, but not as he would chastise a slave, and not till blood flows”; if he should do so, he is fined.29 According to Muhammedan law, a husband may chastise an obstinate wife, but he must not cause her great suffering, nor inflict on her a wound.30 We read in the Laws of Manu:—“A wife, a son, a slave, a pupil, and a younger brother of the full blood, who have committed faults, may be beaten with a rope or a split bamboo, but on the back part of the body only, never on a noble part; he who strikes

them otherwise will incur the same guilt as a thief.”31 In Europe the idea expressed by the ancient Roman that “he who beats his wife or children lays hands on that which is most sacred and holy,”32 was shared neither by the ancient Teutons33 nor by mediæval legislators. According to the Jydske Lov, a husband was allowed to chastise his wife with a stick or rod, though not with a weapon; but he had to take care not to break any limb of her body.34 In the Coutumes du Beauvoisis it is said that a man may beat his wife if she belies or curses him, or disobeys his “reasonable” commands, or for some other similar reason, though he must not kill or maim her.35 Among Russian and South Slavonian36 peasants public opinion still permits the husband to inflict corporal punishment on his wife. In Russia “the bridegroom, while he is leading his bride to her future home, gives her from time to time light blows from a whip, saying at each stroke: ‘Forget the manners of thine own family, and learn those of mine.’ As soon as they have entered their bedroom, the husband says to his wife, ‘Take off my boots.’ The wife immediately obeys her husband’s orders, and, taking them off, finds in one of them a whip, symbol of his authority over her person. This authority implies the right of the husband to control the behaviour of his wife, and to correct her every time he thinks fit, not only by words, but also by blows.

The opinion which a Russian writer of the sixteenth century … expresses as to the propriety of personal chastisement, and even as to its beneficial effects on the health, is still shared by the country people…. The customary Court seems to admit the use of such disciplinary proceedings by not interfering in the personal relations of husband and wife. ‘Never judge the quarrel of husband and wife,’ is a common saying, scrupulously observed by the village tribunals, which refuse to hear any complaint on the part of the aggrieved woman, at least so long as the punishment has not been of such a nature as to endanger life or limb.”37