BACHELOR. 





prufnaion, " ad doctoratum aspirantes ; " see Duoange no tw*o bacca- 

 larii : and for more information on the etymology of the wort the 

 reader is referred to Menage's ' Etymological Dictionary of the French 

 Language,' and to Selden* Treatise History of Titles,' 2nd part, 



The iogialation of Uw Roman* placed unmarried persons (caslibes) 

 under certain di*abilitie*, the chief of which were contained in the Lex 

 Julia et Papia Poppm. But even before that time, according to Livy 

 (Ixv. 15), they had been placed in an inferior position to the married 

 chiieo*. and separated int.- four urban tribes, an inferiority 

 (8 D Legibua, ST") allude* to in the words " Censores prolem descri- 

 bunto, cselibes e*M probibento." The original Lex was simply called 

 Julia, and was rrssH 18 B.C. (Dion Caasius, liv. 16.) The Lex 

 Papia et Puppnt, which was intended as an amendment and supple- 

 ment to the Lex Julia, was passed A.D. 9 ; and both these leges seem 

 to have been considered aa one, being often referred to under the 

 title of the Lex Julia et PapU Poppa*. One object of the Lex was 

 to encourage marriage. An unmarried person (Calebs), who was in 

 other respects qualified to take a legacy, was incapacitated by t! 

 unless he or she married within one hundred days, i I'lpi m. Frag.' 

 xviL 1.) The Uw was the same if the whole property (hereditaa) was 

 left to a cxlebs. (Oaius, ii. Ill, 144, 286.) It was the opinion of 

 the Uwyers, that though a csclebs could not take directly under a 

 testament, a csclebs could take by way of Jldei commiasum, or trust ; 

 but the Senatu*-con*ulturn Pegananum, which was passed in the time 

 of Vespasian, rendered a oclebs equally incapable of taking anything 

 by way of fidci commissum. (Oaius, ii. 286.) A testamentary gift, 

 which failed to take effect because the here* or legatee was a 

 was called Caducum (and the word was applied to other cases also), 

 " trmtling which failed or dropped." In the first instance, such a 

 gift came to those among the heredes who had children ; and if the 

 heredes had no children, it came to those of the legatees who had 

 children. If there were no such claimant*, the Caducum came to the 

 public treasury (serarium). But by a constitution of the emperor 

 Antoninus CaracaUa, the Caducum come to the Fiacus, or Imperial 

 treasury, instead of the public treasury ; the rights of children and 

 parent*, however, were reserved. (Ulpian, ' Frag.,' xvii.) An un- 

 married man who had attained the age of sixty, and an unmarried 

 woman who had attained the age of fifty, were not subjected to the 

 penalties of the Lex Julia et Papia Poppeea a* to celibacy, but a 

 Senatas-consultum Pernicianum (Persicianum), passed in the time of 

 Tiberius, extended the penalties to unmarried persons of both sexes 

 who were above sixty and fifty years old respectively, and it made 

 them for ever subject to the incapacities. However, a Senatus-con- 

 sultum CUudianum, passed in the time of Claudius, mitigated the 

 severity of the Pernicianum by substituting a new clause in the place 

 of the old one, enacting that there should be no penalties imposed 

 on men who, being above the age of sixty, married wives under fifty 

 years, for from those unions there was a fair prospect of issue. (Ulpian, 

 ' Frag.' xvi. ; Suetonius, ' Claudius,' c. 23.) 



The Lex Julia et Papia Poppa* also imposed incapacities on orbi. 

 that is, married persons who had no children from the age of twenty- 

 five to sixty for a man, and twenty to fifty for a woman. Childless 

 persons who came within the terms of the Lex lost one-half of any 

 hereditas or legacy ; and what they could not take became Caducum 

 The Lex also gave direct advantages to persons who had children. Tin 

 original object of this Roman law was perhaps only to encourage 

 marriage, but it was afterwards used a* a means of raising revenue. 



In the preceding exposition of the Lex Julia et Papia Poppasa, it has 

 been assumed that the provisions above enumerated applied both to 

 males and females. The word atltbt, indeed, which may be explainer 

 as one "qui eat sine conjugio sive aliquando sive nunquam matri 

 monium inserit," seems to be applied only to males, and the Latin 

 term for an unmarried woman is ri'rfno, which mean* any woman 

 who ha* not a husband. But the expression of Ulpian (' Frag.' xvi 

 3), " Qui intra sexagesimum vel qua) intra quinquagesimum annum 

 neutri legi (the Julia or Papia Popptca) paruerit," Ac., shows that the 

 provisions applied both to males and females. The word ctclebs woulc 

 not be used in the enactment* of the Lex, but the phrase would be 

 ' Qui Qiucve,' Ac. That the Lex applied to women also, appears from 

 other evidence. ('Cod.' viii tit 57.) Under the republic there were 

 also penalties on celibacy, and legal inducement* to marriage, whirl 

 are mentioned in the speech which Dion Caasius (Ivi. 2 9) put* into 

 the mouth of Augustus. Julius Ctcsar, in the division of the Cam 

 panian land*, gave allotment* only to those who had three children o 

 more, (Dion Caas. xxxviii. 7 ; Appian, ' Bell. Civil.' ii. l".l Hence ii 

 later time* we find the celebrated Jus trium, quatuor ct quinque libero 

 rum, which was a consequence of the enactment* above referred to 

 whose importance is abundantly testified in the old inscription* wind 

 have survived to our day. For a lengthened commentary on this Uw 

 aw the work of M. Vertranius Maurus, in Otto's ' Thesaurus Juris 

 Romani,' iii. p. 967. The censors also are said to have had the powe 

 of imposing a penalty called JK* Uxorium, " wife-money," on n 

 were unmarried. ( r estus, roe* ' Uxorium.') From the earliest times i 

 bad always been a part of the Roman policy to encourage the procrea 

 tion of children ; the object of the Kngliah law imposing extraordinary 

 payment* on bachelors, and relieving to a certain extent married 

 persons with children, wa* apparently to raise money, though a certain 



vague notion that marriage should be encouraged seems also to have 



occurred to the law-maker. A constitution of Constantine (' < '!' viii. 



it. 58) relieved both unmarried men and women from the penalties 



uposed on celibea and orbi, and placed them on the same footing as 



married persona. This change was made to favour the Christiana, 



many of whom abstained from marriage from religious motives. 



ily bachelors, but widowers have been unequally taxed in this 

 country, and then is more than one instance, within the last sixty 

 ears, in which persons have been favoured ~by special exemptions, or 

 lave been charged less on account of tin- number ..t their children. 

 n 1695 an Act was passed < A 7 Will. 111. c (!) i-iilituled" An A 

 granting to his Majesty certain rates and duties upon marriages, births, 

 ml burials, and upon bachelors and widowers, for the term of five 

 ears, for carrying on the war against France with vigour." 



Bachelors above the age of twenty-five, aii'l widowers without 

 hildren, paid It. yearly, and further according to their rank. Thus, 

 or a bachelor duke the tax was 12/., and other rank* in proportion. 

 An esquire was charged 35. a year, and a person of the rank of 

 gentleman St. Persons possessed of real estate of 50{. a year, or per- 

 aonal property of 600/. value paid 5. A supplementary Act was passed 

 wo or three years afterwards (9 Will. III. c. 32), to prevent frauds in 

 the collection of the taxes imposed by the former Act, but the tax was 

 allowed to expire in 1706. In 1785, when Mr. Pitt proposed a tax on 

 emale servants, he exempted persona who kept only one servant, and 

 who had two or more lawful children or grandchildren under the age 

 of 14 living in the house with them. But to make up for the defi- 

 ieiM -y. he proposed that the tax on servants should be high 

 ehalon than for others; and he stated that the idea of thin tax was 

 borrowed from Mr. Fox. This differential rate, though reduced in 

 iiii.iunt by 4 Geo. IV. c. 11, has been continued to the present time, 

 and the number of servants charged at the higher rate in 1842 waa 

 11,831, or rather more than one-tenth of the whole number charged. 

 In 1853, the number charged amounted only to 11,417, the relative 

 woportions being about the same. Roman Catholic clergymen are 

 xcmpt from additional duty, 4 A 5 Will. IV., c. 73, s. 4 ; and by 

 Schedule I of 48 Geo. III., c. 55, incorporated into 52 Geo. III. c. 93, 

 the unmarried daughters of any person aie exempted from the tax 

 upon hair-powder. When the income-tax was imposed by Mr. Pitt 

 in 1798, deductions were allowed on account of children, and an abate- 

 ment was made of 5 per cent to a person with children, when the income 

 was above 60/. and under 400/. ; and other rates of abatement 

 allowed according to the amount of income and the number of children : 

 this indulgence extended to incomes of 50001. a year and upward*, 

 but these deductions have not been continued by recent legislation. 



There does not appear to be a tax on bachelors in any country in 

 Europe. In the city of Frankfort an income-tax is paid by journey- 

 men who work in the city, " if they are foreigners, and not married." 

 BACHELOR OF ARTS. [ARTS, DEGREES is.] 

 BACKGAMMON, a game played by two persons with ilice, upon a 

 table divided into two part*, upon which there are twelve point* of one 

 colour and twelve of another. Dr. Henry (' Hist, of Eng.' 4to, 1774, 

 vol. ii. p. 601), speaking of the end of the Anglo-Saxon time, says, 

 " The game of backgammon, it is pretended, was invented in Wales in 

 this period, and derives its name from the two Welsh words bach, little, 

 and common, battle." He refers for thin information to the glossary at 

 the end of Wotton's ' Legos Wallictc,' p. 683. BUhop Kennett, how- 

 ever, among his manuscript collections, gives 111 n more probable 

 etymology of backgammon from base, back or backward, and the An;/] 

 Saxon zamen, a game, sport, or play. Strutt, in hi* ' Sports and 

 Pastimes,' adopt* this derivation, and gives a representation of the 

 game in the 18th century, from Harl. MSS. No. 152. The name 

 r was changed by the Normans for that of Tablet, derived 

 immediately from the French, under which it i* mentioned by Shaks- 

 pere (' Love's Labour's Lost,' Act v. sc. 2), Burton (' Anatomy of 

 Melancholy,' part ii. 2, No. 4), and others. Somewhat later, it 

 acquired also the name f I,-:,- :,:,,. or tick-tact, a term also used by 

 Shakspere in ' Measure for Measure.' After centuries of disuse, the 

 original Saxon name re-appeared, and for a long time the game ha* 

 been only known as backgammon. 



llojle, in a short 'Treatise on Backgammon,' has treated amply 

 of its practice, and given fidl directions how to play the different 

 chances, with observations, hints, anil cautions to be attend.',] to. 

 The table is divided into twenty-four point* of alternate colours, 

 ami (lie gome is played with fifteen men of different colours, and a |>air 

 of dice for each player. The men are disposed in a settled order on 

 the board, and the game consists in bringing the men home,- - that is, 

 into the division of six nearest the pUyer's left hand, the moves ln-ing 

 made according to the numbers thrown by each player with the dice, 

 tin 1 throws being token alternately. Where a single man is loft on a 

 pint, it may !,. lifted by the adversary if the throw enables him to 

 hit it. When all the men are home, they are taken off according to 

 the throw of the dice, and the party first clearing off all his men i* the 

 winner. If this is done Iwfore the adversary ha* all hi* men bom.', it 

 i* a gammon, which count* d\il>lc; if while he has one man or more 

 in his antagonist's home, it i* a tack-gammon, which counts aa 

 three. Hoyle gives the following as the laws of backgammon : 

 1. If you take a man from any point, that man must be pUyed ; the 

 same must be done if two men are taken from it. 2. You are not 



