Page:Cihm 05634.djvu/18

12 to the brother, and hence the law does not actually compel him, but provides rather an easy mode by which he may free himself from the obligation by merely publicly declaring before the assembled elders that he was not disposed to marry his brother's widow. Such an easy mode of escaping from an unwelcome obligation would have tended to render the injunction to a great extent nugatory had not provision been made to brand the man as a traitor to his brother's family for allowing personal consideration to outweigh a solemn duty he owed to a deceased brother. As the ceremony was public, and the disgrace which it entailed was to last as long as the person lived, it would, no doubt, have the effect of deterring many from shirking the duty on mere trivial grounds. The mode of conducting the ceremony is laid down with such great precision as altogether to preclude the possibility of any undue harshness being exercised, whilst, on the other hand, the importance of the preservation of family name is in the most impressive manner brought before those witnessing the ceremony. We may remark, that the loosing of the shoe, which formed the chief part of the ceremony on such an occasion, had, no doubt, its inception from the custom of any one taking possession of landed property by going to it, and standing upon it in his shoes, and so asserting his right to it. In this way it became the custom of renouncing any claim to property to take off the shoe, and handing it to him who was to become the owner of it. This custom prevailed also among the ancient Germans. By the taking off of the shoe is therefore symbolized, that the brother, by refusing to marry the widow, has likewise forfeited every claim to his brother's property, which might now go to the next nearest relative, upon whom devolved