Hindu Law
In the East, until the 16th century, women were generally treated almost as untouchable and had very few rights. They were subjected to highly degrading practises like purdah (living separately from men or in seclusion, see also sex segregation); sati, the killing of the wife on the dead husband's funeral pyre; child marriage, when girls of between 5 and 10 years old were married off, without their consent or knowledge; dowry, the giving of expensive gifts by the bride's family to the groom's family in agreement to the wedding; etc.
Read more about this topic: Legal Rights Of Women In History
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“Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner. At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.”
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