215 
“ Os ben bis for focsul dar apud nathar no fine, la fine a neraic 
“ acas a ndibad, acas fer fo do coisle a cin acas a ciniud.”—* If a 
“ woman be forced away against the will of her father or her tribes, 
to the tribe belong her Erie and her inheritance, and on the man 
“ with whom she went fall her fines and trespasses.” 
It would, perhaps, be superfluous to give here further examples 
to show how the crimes of women were atoned for by their tribes, or 
how the Erics or mulcts paid for injuries sustained by them were 
distributed amongst the tribe to whicli they belonged. It may not, 
however, be improper to rema/ ‘, that any woman, who had not by 
crimes or ill conduct brought Uamages or injuries on her tribe, had 
a right to dispose of all her chattel property to the Church; but she 
had no power to dispose of any part of the property belonging to 
the tribe without having obtained their consent for that purpose. 
Contracts entered into by women were generally invalid ; for, with- 
out the consent of her head, (the guardian or the person under 
whose control she was,) she could not make any legal transfer of 
property. A father had control over the actions of a daughter, 
the chief family controlled a woman of such family, sons had a 
control over a mother who had children, a tribe controlled a 
woman of a tribe, the Church had control over a woman belong- 
ing tothe Church. But although a woman could not buy or sell, or 
enter into contracts without the consent of her head, she might, 
with the approbation of her head, enter into contracts, and dispose 
of whatever was lawful for her to transfer in a public manner. If 
the husband of a woman was guilty of adultery, she had a power 
to separate from him ; but upon no other occasion was a woman al- 
lowed to part from her husband. 
If children above a certain age committed a fault, or did any in- 
jury to any person, the atonement was to be made in equal propor- 
VOL. XIV. GG 
