A D U 



of this privilege, which was allowed. But ihey were re- 

 garded as depraved and infamous. 



Among the Miiigrelians, adiilteiy is puiiiflKd witli the 

 forfeiture of a hog, wliich h ufualiy eaten in good friend- 

 (Iiip between the gallant, the adulterefs, and tiic cuckold. 

 Cliardin. Voy. torn. i. p. 47. 



In fome parts of tlie Indies, it is faid, any man's wife is 

 pciniitted to prollitute herfelf to him who will give an 

 c-ltphant for tlie ufe of her ; and it is reputed no fmall 

 glory to' her, to have been rated fo high. Montaigne's 

 liir. lib. iii. cap. 4. 



Adultei-y is faid to be fo frequent at Ceylon, that not a 

 woman hut praillfes it, notwithllnnding its being puniihable 

 T.'itii death. Bibl. Univ. torn, xxiii. p. 337. 



Among the Japancfe, and divers other nations, adultery 

 is only penal in the woman. Among the Abyflinians, the 

 crime of the hufliand is faid to he only punilhed on tlic in- 

 nocent wife. In the Marian lilands, on the contrary, the 

 woman is not punilhable tor adultery ; but if the man go 

 allray, he pays feverely ; the wife and her relations walie 

 his lands, turn him out of his houfe, &:c. Amo'.ig the Chi- 

 nefe there is reafon to conclude, that adultery is not capi- 

 tal ; for it is faid that fond parents will make a contracl; 

 with the future hufbands of their daughters to allow 

 them the gratification of a gallant. But without fuch pre- 

 caution, tlie hulband has power to inflidl corporal punilh- 

 ment on a wife who tranfgreffes, or to divorce her. Such, 

 however, is tht conjugal fidelity of the Chinefe women, and 

 fo ftridlly are they guarded, that cafes of this kind feldom 

 happen. The Koran annexes the pen;Uty of 100 ftripes to 

 the crime of fornication, in either fex ; and in cafe of adul- 

 tery, female flaves, whofe punilhment was halt that of free 

 women, received lifty llripes, and the latter \s-cre iloned. But 

 in order to convift a woman of adultery, the commentators 

 on the Koran fay, that the charge mull be fupported by four 

 male witnelfes, and a falfe acculer was puniflied with eiglity 

 ftripes, and his tellimony was deemed fur the future invalid. 



in the kir.gdom of Benin, the punilhment of adulterers 

 among the lower clades, is the forfeiture of the perfonal and 

 real etlate of the gallant, which the hufband feizes and enjoys ; 

 and he is therefore anxious to detect the intrigue, as foon 

 as he has occafion to fufpett it. The offending wife is 

 driven out of the hdufe with a cudgel, and deemed infam- 

 ous. Among perfons of fuperior condition, the crime is 

 atoned by a turn of money, which the relations of the wife 

 ndvance, to prevent the Icandal annexed to adultery. — 

 Among the governors and magiilratcs, the crime is punilhed 

 with greater feverity. The woman and her gallant are 

 immediately put to death, if detefted in the fadl ; and their 

 bodies are thrown on the dunghills as a prey to the birds 

 and beafts, without procefs of law, or form of trial. Hence 

 it is faid, the violation of the marriage bed is lefs known in 

 Benin than in any other couutiy. 



In Spain, they puniflied adultery in men by cutting off 

 that part which had been the inllrument of the crime. 



In Poland, before Chrillianity was eflablifhed, they pu- 

 rlthed adukeiy and fornication in a very particular manner : 

 the criminal they carried to the market-place, and there 

 faftened him by the tefticles with a nail ; laying a razor 

 within his reach, and leaving him under a neceffity either of 

 doing juHice upon hiinfelf, or of perifhing in tliat condition. 



By the law of Scotland, fimple adultery is dillinguiflicd 

 from that which is notorious and manifell. Open and 

 manifell adulterers, who continue incorrigible, notwithfland- 

 ing the cenfures of the church, are punilhed capitally. The 

 puuiftituent of iiaiple adultery, not Ixing defined by ftatute, 



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is left to the difcretion of the judge ; but cuftom hai rnnAe 

 the f<dling of the fingle cfciieat one of its penaUics. 



The Saxons formerly burnt the adultrrcls, and over her 

 allies cretled a gibbet, whereon the adulterer was hanged. 

 In this kingdom, likewife, adultery by the ancient laws wag 

 feverely puiilfhed. By the laws of Ethelbert, any one who 

 committed adultery with his neighbour's wife was obliged 

 to pay him a line, and buy him another wife. King Ed- 

 mund the Saxon, ordered adultery to be puniflied in the 

 fame manner as homicide ; and Cajiutc the Dane, ordered 

 that a man who committed adulteiy fliould he baiiiflied, and 

 tliat the woman fliould have her nofe and ears cut oil'. In 

 the time of Henry I. it was punilhed with the lofs of eyes 

 and genitals. Lib. Hen. I. cap. 12. Doomfday, tit. Ceftre. 

 Civit. 



Adultery at prcfent is only punilhed by fine and penancf 

 in the fpiiitual court ; or by an action at common law of 

 dim. con. as it is commonly called, for damages ; which 

 are aflefled by the jur)', under the diredtion of the court, in 

 proportion to the hcinoufnefs of the crime and the circum- 

 ilances of the oflender : though fome of our law-book* 

 fpeak of adultery as a thing temporal againll the peace. If 

 a man takes another in the act of adulter)- with his wife, 

 and kills him directly upon the fpot, though this was al- 

 lowed by the laws of Solon, as likewife by the Roman civil 

 law (if the adulterer was found in the hulhand's own 

 houfe), and alfo among tlie ancient Goths ; yet in England 

 it is not abfolutcly ranked in the clafs of jullifiable homicide, 

 but it is manllaughtcr. It is, however, the lowell degree of 

 it ; and therefore the court in fuch a cafe direfted the 

 burning in the hand to be gently inflicted, bceaufe there 

 could not be a greater provocation. Blackll. Com. vol. iv. 

 p. 192, 8vo. As to the adulterefs, by our law, Ihe under- 

 goes no temporal punifliment whatever, except the lofs of 

 her dower ; and flie does not even lofe that, if her hufband 

 is weak enough to be reconciled to her, and cohabit with 

 her after the offence committed. 13 Ed. I. cap. ^4. 



It is to be obferved, that adultereffes are fuch either by 

 the Ctitio/1 or CiviJ Laiu. 



According to the former, a woman is an adulterefs, wh» 

 either being herfelf mamed, converfcs carnally with another 

 man, or being fingle herfelf, converfes with a man that it 

 married. 



According to the latter, flie is not an adulterefs, if fhe be not 

 herfelf in the manned flate, though flic converfes with a maa 

 that is. The crime, in this cafe, was more properly called 

 Jluprum than aduUer'mm. 



Hence, among the Romans, the word aJtillcra, adulterefs, 

 difl'ered irom pcl'ix, which denoted a fingle woman, who co- 

 habited with a married man : and yir/Zcv differed from concu- 

 Una, which fignified her who had only intercourfe with an 

 unmarried man. The former was reputed infamous, and the 

 latter innocent. 



It is much difputed, whether adultery diflblvcs the bond 

 of matrimony, and be a fufficient caufe of divorce, fo that the 

 parties may marry again. This was allowed in the ancient 

 church, and is flill continued in the Greek, as well as the 

 Lutheran and Calvinill churches. Romanills, however, dif- 

 allov.' of it, and the council of Trent even anathematized 

 tiiofe who maintain it ; though the canon of anathematixa- 

 tion was mitigated in deference to the republic of Venice, 

 in fome of whofe dominions, as Zant, Cephalouia, &c. the 

 contrary ufage obtains. 



The eccleilaftical courts in England fo far agree with the 



papiils, that they only grant a divorce a men/a £3" tkoro, in 



cafe of adultery ; fo that a complete divorce, a vinculo main- 



Im 1 2 nionit. 



