Note 2459 — Chapter XVIII · THE DECAY OF MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE. THE MARRIAGE PORTION

Schlyter, ‘Juridiska afhandlingar,’ vol. i. p. 201. Schlegel, ‘Om Morgongavens Oprindelse,’ in ‘Astræa,’ vol. ii. pp. 189, et seq. Koenigswarter, ‘Histoire de l’organisation de la famille,’ p. 123. The old purchase-money which the husband was obliged to give to the bride, was also represented by the fictitious dowry preserved in the rituals of the Church till the sixteenth century. M. Martene mentions a ritual of the Church of Reims, of 1585, in which the bridegroom, at the moment of putting the nuptial ring on the finger of the bride, placed three deniers in her hand (Koenigswarter, p. 174, note 4).