The Killing of Women, and of Slaves—The Criminality of Homicide Influenced by Distinctions of Class

Chapter XVIII

The husband’s power of life and death over his wife among many of the lower races, p. sq.—The right of punishing his wife capitally not universally granted to the husband in uncivilised communities, p. .—The husband’s power of life and death among peoples of a higher type, ibid.—Uxoricide punished less severely than matricide, p. sq.—The estimate of a woman’s life sometimes lower than that of a man’s, sometimes equal to it, sometimes higher, p. sq.—The master’s power of life and death over his slave, p. sq.—The right, among many savages, of killing his slave at his own discretion expressly denied to the master, p. 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. .—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. –426.—Efforts of the Christian Church to secure the life of the slave against the violence of the master, p. .—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. –428.—In modern times, in Christian countries, the life of the negro slave was only inadequately protected by law, p. sq.—Why the life of a slave is held in so little regard, p. .—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. sq.—In the estimate of life a distinction also made between different classes of freemen, p. 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. –433.—Explanation of this influence of class, p. .—In progressive societies each member of the society at last admitted to be born with an equal claim to the right to live, ibid.