Note 844 — Chapter VI · OLD ENGLISH WIFE-PURCHASE YIELDS TO FREE MARRIAGE
Reading edition
Habicht, Altdeutsche Verlobung, 9, note, 68, insists that there is no practical difference between the sale of the Vormundschaft, or protection, and the sale of the bride. See Ficker, Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte, III, 393-419, who rejects the view that marriage has the same origin and character among all the German peoples.