and under Canon Law.
In all these instances I have gone directly to primary sources, have
investigated them myself, and have admitted no secondhand evidence. In
connection with Women's rights in England and in the United States I
have either consulted the statutes or studied the commentaries of
jurists, like Messrs. Pollock and Maitland, whose authority cannot be
doubted. To such I have given the exact references whenever they have
been used. In preparing the chapter on the progress of women's lights in
the United States I derived great assistance from the very exhaustive
_History of Woman Suffrage_, edited by Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Ida
H. Harper, and others to whose unselfish labours we are for ever
indebted. From their volumes I have drawn freely; but I have not given
each specific reference.

The tabulation of the laws of the several States which I have given
naturally cannot be entirely adequate, because the laws are being
changed constantly. It is often difficult to procure the latest revised
statutes. However, these laws are recent enough to illustrate the
evolution of women's rights.

Finally, this volume was written in no hope that all readers would agree
with the author, who is zealous in his cause. His purpose will be gained
if he induces the reader to reflect for himself on the problem in the
light of its historical development.

E.A.H.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 1910.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

WOMEN'S RIGHTS UNDER ROMAN LAW, 27 B.C.-527 A.D.

Originally women were always under guardianship--But under the Empire
the entire equality of the sexes was recognised--Women in
marriage--Their power over their property--Divorce--Women engaged in all
business pursuits--Instances of women suing and pleading in
law--Partiality of the law towards women--Rights of inheritance--Rights
to higher education fully allowed--Provision made for poor children to
be educated--The Vestals--Female slaves--Remarkable growth of
humanitarianism towards slaves under the Empire--Sources

CHAPTER II

WOMEN AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Christ laid down ethical principles but not minute regulations--The
Apostles affected by Jewish and Oriental or Greek conceptions of
women--Examples of these--St. Paul and St. Peter on the position of
women--The Church Fathers elaborated these teachings--Examples of their
contempt for women--Mingled with admiration for particular types of
women--Their views of marriage--Their strictures o