Report No. 66
3.16. Position to Rome and other countries.-
In fact, the situation in India seems to have been better than what it was elsewhere. It may be noted that the Roman law regarded the wife as the "daughter" of her husband, as far as her juridical status was concerned; for a long time the wife could not sign a will, make a contract or become a witness1 under Roman law. This 'property' in women, sons and slaves is said to have been familiar to the ancient Greeks and Romans.2
"Community" of wives was known to the Greeks3.
1. Altekar Position of Women in Hindu Civilization, (1956), p. 331.
2. Plutarch's Lives (45 A.D.-125 A.D.)-Lycurgus (Ward Lock), p. 36, Cato the Younger, pp. 538, 539; contra, Aristotle, Politics, II, Ch. 2; Hist. Animals, IX-i, all referred to by Gour Hindu Code, (1938), p. 8, para. 17.
3. Herodotus IV 104; Plato's Republic (Conford Ed.), p. 152, foot-note.