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position of its members were changed, and women not only enjoyed a large amount of freedom, but even acquired legal rights. The maiden who at one time might have been bartered away or sold by her father, acquired the right of veto. This is indicated in the story of the wooing of Rebecca — her con sent was asked. A similar change is found in the condition of the widow and the divorced woman, neither of whom originally acquired independence, although under the later law they became absolutely free to dispose of themselves as they saw fit. The widow was largely dependent upon the bounty of her husband's heir, because the law gave her no share in his estate. This was probably due to the ancient principle of the inalienability of the family property, the danger being that if she were given a share in it, it might be carried out of the family of her husband into the family of her father or of her second hus band. Some provision is made for her, how ever, in the nature of a dower right; and the only distinction between her status and that of the unmarried woman was that she was not permitted to be married to a high priest. As to the divorced woman, we find the same principles governing her legal status. She was not permitted to be married to a priest; she was protected in her property rights; and was generally found to be the subject of legal discussion in company with the widow. All the successive stages by which the property rights of the widow and divorced woman were secure, are not with out interest, but inasmuch as they trespass on the field of Talmudic jurisprudence, they will not be enlarged upon at this time. The dowry given to the father upon the marriage of his daughter was the purchase money which the husband paid for her; and undeniable traces of the original commercial nature of marriage are to be found in the Bible, although the society therein described

has already passed through the lower stage of matrimonial bargains. When Shehem desired to marry Dinah, he said to her father and her brothers (Genesis xxxiv, 11-12), "Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give; ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as ye shall say unto me." Under the theory of the patriarchal law, the wife could not own property separate and apart from her husband; she had no right to her person, so that the money which she earned by her labor, or damages which she recovered for injuries done to her belonged to her husband; she could not even make a vow against her husband's will. But at a very early period customs arose which recog nized certain rights of the woman against her husband and these rights could in some way be enforced. The Mosaic law provides that if the husband fails in the performance of certain duties towards her she shall go out free. It does not state how the husband could be forced to let her go, but it must be presumed that an adequate method of en forcing the law existed. Perhaps the wife had a right to go before the elders of the city and make her complaint before them so that they could determine the question as between her and her husband. This is a long step from the simple rule of the patri archal age under which the husband was amenable to no authority for his government of the family. Similarly the Mosaic law put an end to the husband's right to sell his wife when he was no longer pleased with her : (Exodus xxi, 7-11 ) "And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. If she please not her master who betrothed her. to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her un to another he shall have no power seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her." In this