Note 200 — XVI MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE UNDER ROMAN AND ENGLISH LAW

Others think that this expression, which would seem to refer not to real property but to chattels, is a relic of ancient Teutonic custom. As is observed by Messrs. Pollock and Maitland (History of English Law, vol. ii. p. 401), we must not assume that, from the days of savagery down to our own, all changes have been in favour of women. They had apparently more power over their own property in Anglo-Saxon times than in the thirteenth century.