In more than one commune of the government of Tamboy, Riasan, Vladimir, Moscow, Samara and Saratov, no mention is made of the dowry given by the bride's father, whilst the kladka is regularly paid to the head of the family to which the bride belongs.(12*) We must therefore consider these two payments, that made by the bridegroom, and that made by the bride's father, as quite different institutions. The one payment proves the existence, at least in certain parts of modern Russia, of a mode of marriage similar to that of the Indian Asura, the other shows the way in which the pretium emptionis, to employ a term of Roman jurisprudence, passed into the dos or dowry. The custom was the same as that followed by the Germanic tribes. In saying this Ihave particularly in view Tacitus's statement about the payment made by the bridegroom at a marriage, and the more recent fact of the conversion of this payment into a dowry given by the bride's father.
That in former days in Russia wives were regularly bought from their parents is plainly recognised by the wedding-songs still in use among our peasants.
The boyars, a term by which people designate the companions or followers of the bridegroom, who on his part is called "the duke," kniaz, the boyars, says a wedding-song of the Government of Saratov, "surround the yard of the bride's house on all sides;they bargain for our Douniascha."
"The boyars have covered the ground with gold," sing the country people of White Russia.
The bridegroom is very often mentioned in the songs of the peasants of Great Russia as the "merchant," whist the bride is spoken of as "merchandise." In the Government of Jaroslav, for instance, the bride, following an ancient usage, complains of the treatment to which she will be subjected, saying that "unknown merchants will take her away from her father and her dear mother."(13*)Now that we have carefully passed in review the different aspects under which matrimonial relations have been viewed, or still are viewed, by the country people of Russia, we may be allowed to say, that Russian ethnography quite corroborates the theory as to the evolution of marriage which English scholars were the first to establish. The author of "Primitive Culture,"as well as the great and powerful genius who has so marvellously continued the work of Auguste Comte, and lastly the numerous followers of the man, whose studies in ancient history have unveiled for us the mysteries of the early family will, I have no doubt, be pleased to see their views confirmed by the early law and the still living custom of one of the principal branches of the Aryan race. Nothing more, it seems to me, is wanting to the modern theory of the matriarchate than a solid base of historical facts. So long as obscure myths and the more or less superficial observations of missionaries and tourists constituted the materials for a theory whose chief purpose is to show us the social state of our most remote ancestors, objections like those of Sir Henry Maine or Mr Starcke found a ready ear. The fact that among the Kamilaroi and the Kuruai the right of the husband is ignored, does not necessarily imply that our ancestors had no notion of marriage and the patria potestas; and the numerous Greek myths on which Bachofen has established his hypothesis of any early Greek gyneocracy may possibly belong to the number of those wandering legends on which it is very difficult to found an opinion as to the social state of this or that particular people.
Consult the "Sociology" of Herbert Spencer, and especially the chapters in which he treats of the early forms of marriage, and you will, I am sure, be surprised at the discovery that scarcely any mention is made of the legal antiquities of peoples belonging to the Aryan race. This is a serious defect, and the sooner it is remedied the better. Some measures have already been taken to this end by the modern school of German jurists who, under the able guidance of Professor Kohler, publish a most interesting periodical call ed the Zeitschrift fur die vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft. It is with an object similar to theirs that I have undertaken my researches in the vast field of Slavonic law and custom. What I have said about it in this lecture, little though it has been, may, perchance, induce some of you to undertake fresh studies in this region which is still so little explored. I can promise all who will venture, the most abundant and happy results.
NOTES:
1. The last time in an article on the patriarchal family published in the Quarterly Review.
2. Compare Lange, "On the Mutual Rights, according to Old Russian Law, of Husband and Wife as regards Fortune." Petersburg, 1886.
3. "Das Landrecht von Kloster." (XVIc.) ed. by Mohr.
4. Smirnov, "Sketches of Family Relations according to the Customary Law of the Russians" (Moscow, 1877) pp. 105, 106.
5. Ivanischev, "Dissertation on the Rights of the Individual according to the Old Laws of the Bohemians." Complete Works, p.
92.
6. Ribnikov, "The Songs of the Russian People." vol. i, p. 64.
Kirscha Danilov, "Old Russian Poems" pp. 9 and 70. Afanasiev, "Tales of the Russian People." vol. i, p. 484.
7. "Antiquarische Briefe," 1880, p. 167. McLennan, "The Patriarchal Theory," ch. vi. p. 71.
8. Afanasiev "Folk-tales" vol. i, pp. 211, 212.
9. Schein, "Songs of the White Russians."10. Tereschenko, "Social Life of the Russians,: vol. iv, p. 280.
11. Genesis, xxix.
12. Lange, p. 86.
13. Titov, "Customary Village Law." Nicola Perevos in the District of Rostov (Jaroslav, 1888), Appendix N. 5.
Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russia by Maxime Kovalevsky
