Note 96.4 — Front matter (continued 2)
Reading edition
el derecho de pernada, seignorial right. This is the jus primae noctis, droit du seigneur, Herrenrecht, according to which the bride of a vassal belonged, for the wedding night, to the feudal lord. The existence of this right as a part of the feudal system is a moot question. Dr. Vicente de la Fuente, quoted by Karl Schmidt, Jus Primae Noctis, Freiburg, 1881, p. 56, says: "Entre nosotros no fue conocido ese derecho inmoral y abominable." Schmidt indeed, as the result of a thorough historical investigation, characterizes the custom as a legend and a "learned superstition."