WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
these contracts the wife is hired for a period, and at the end of the engagement both parties may marry again, or they may renew the intimacy. If the man desires to sever himself before the expiration of the agreed period, he must give to the woman the full amount of the fixed sum. No children born of these unions are considered illegitimate. They have full civic rights, and can legally inherit property.
This ephemeral wedlock is, no doubt, an example of trial-marriage, a fairly common custom in many parts of the world. Such temporary alliances were frequent until recent times in the British Islands, and especially in Wales.[1]
In old days there seems to have been no penalty for adultery in Persia. There have been severe punishments for this offence in modern times. Both of the guilty persons have suffered death. But the cases of proven infidelity are rare in Mohammedan nations. Mohammed was more merciful than Moses in laying down the law of adultery. The suspected woman was allowed to establish her innocence by an oath repeated four times. Moreover, there must be four accredited witnesses to the act of unfaithfulness.
In "Queer Things about Persia," by Eustache de Lory and Douglas Sladen, the authors relate that there have been death penalties for adultery in modern times.
- ↑ See "Chapters on Human Love" ("Geoffrey Mortimer") Walter M. Gallichan.
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