Primitive Marriage: an Inquiry Into the Origin of the Form of Capture in Marriage Ceremonies

The Chief sources of information regarding the early history of civil society are first, the study of races in their primitive condition; and, second, the study of the symbols employed by advanced nations in the constitution or exercise of civil rights. From these studies pursued together, we obtain to a large extent, the power of classifying social phenomena as more or less archaic and thus of connecting and arranging in their order the stages of human advancement. The book is devided into the following chapters, namely, Legal Symbolism and Primitive Life, The form of capture in Marriage Ceremonies, The Origin of the form of capture, On the Prevalence of the Practice of capturing Wives, de facto, Of the rule against Marriage between members of the same Tribe, On the state of Hostility, Exogamyits Origin-Comparative Archaism of Exogamy and Endogamy, Ancient System of Kinship, and their Influence on the Structure of the Primitive Groups, The Decay of Exogamy.