Note 553 — Chapter IV · RISE OF THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT

This is contrary to the common opinion, as expressed, for instance, by Dargun, op. cit., 84, but it appears to be sustained both by reason and the facts. For an example of the restraint of wife-capture through dread of the feud, see Curr, The Australian Race, I, 108. Rehme, "Das Recht der Amaxosa," ZVR., X, 40, shows that the harshness of the husband is mitigated by fear of the vengeance of the wife's relatives; and the same fact is noted by Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 206. Cf. Kohler, "Das Recht der Australneger," ZVR., VII, 349; Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 280 ff., 288, 289, 298; Lippert, Geschichte der Familie, 42; and his Kulturgeschichte, II, 86, 87, for the restraining effects of the blood-feud.