Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/204

152 charged with favouring her irregularities; which limited greatly and annihilated, as it were, this sort of accusation.

Sixtus Quintus seemed to have been desirous of reviving the public accusation. But there needs very little reflection to see, that this law would be more improper in such a monarchy as his, than in any other.

HE Roman laws subjected women to a perpetual guardianship, except they were under cover and the authority of a husband. This guardianship was given to the nearest of the male relations; and by a vulgar expression it appears they were very much confined. This was proper for a republic, but not at all necessary in a monarchy.

That the women among the ancient Germans were likewise under a perpetual tutelage, appears from the different codes of the laws of the Barbarians. This custom was communicated to the monarchies founded by those people; but was not of a long duration. Rh