us--hold
that the wife can commit theft, just as a daughter may against her
father, but that there can be no criminal action by established law."
"As a mark of respect to the married state, an action involving disgrace
for the wife is refused."[80] "Therefore she will be held for theft if
she touches the same things after being divorced. So, too, if her slave
commits theft, we can sue her on the charge. But it is possible to bring
an action for theft even against a wife, if she has stolen from him
whose heirs we are or before she married us; nevertheless, as a mark of
respect we say that in each case a formal claim for restitution alone is
admissible, but not an action for theft."[81] "If any one lends help or
advice to a wife who is filching the property of her husband, he shall
be held for theft. If he commits theft with her, he shall be held for
theft, although the woman herself is not held."[82]

A husband who did not avenge the murder of his wife lost all claims to
her dowry, which was then confiscated to the state; this by order of the
Emperor Severus.[83]

The laws on adultery are rather more lenient to the woman than to the
man. In the first place, the Roman law insisted that it was unfair for a
husband to demand chastity on the part of his wife if he himself was
guilty of infidelity or did not set her an example of good
conduct,[84]--a maxim which present day lawyers may reflect upon with
profit. A father was permitted to put to death his daughter and her
paramour if she was still in his power and if he caught her in the act
at his own house or that of his son-in-law; otherwise he could not.[85]
He must, however, put both man and woman to death at once, when caught
in the act; to reserve punishment to a later date was unlawful. The
husband was not permitted to kill his wife; he might kill her paramour
if the latter was a man of low estate, such as an actor, slave, or
freedman, or had been convicted on some criminal charge involving loss
of citizenship.[86] The reason that the father was given the power which
was denied the husband was that the latter's resentment would be more
likely to blind his power of judging dispassionately the merits of the
case.[87] If now the husband forgot himself and slew his wife, he was
banished for life if of noble birth, and condemned to perpetual hard
labour if of more humble rank.[88] He must at once divorce a wife guilty
of adultery; otherwise he was punished as a pander, and