Author: Academia.edu

Abstract: »This article examines gender differences in the treatment as well as the behaviour of men and women in the judicial arena. The study is based on a sample of small inquisitorial trials from two Marche quasi-città, Tolentino and San Severino, which are included in the criminal justice registers (libri maleficiorum) and communal statutes of this region. In these sources, women often appear as defendants, victims or witnesses. Women needed the authorisation of a male family member, usually the husband or father, to appear before court, unless they were widows or had committed a terrible crime. Because women were excluded from the political sphere and their testimony therefore considered of less value, they were not interrogated in or in front of the communal palace, as men were, but in or in front of a church, to make the social pressure and the divine supervision even more explicit. Despite the scepticism towards female testimony, they were indispensable witnesses to provide evidence of the time of birth and therefore of the age of persons, children, men and women.« (Source: L'Homme)

Contents:

	1. Frauen vor Gericht – unter göttlicher Aufsicht und der Kontrolle von Männern (p. 72)
		1.1 Frauen traten selten allein vor den Richter (p. 72)
		1.2 Die problematische Zeugenschaft von Frauen (p. 74)
		1.3 Geschlechterspezifische Orte der Anhörung (p. 75)
	2. Geburt und Lebensalter von Kindern in der Erinnerung von Frauen (p. 77)
		2.1 ‚Frauenfragen‘ (p. 77)
		2.2 Die Zeugenaussage einer Mutter bewahrt ihr Kind vor strafrechtlicher Verurteilung (p. 78)
		2.3 Die Aussagen christlicher Zeuginnen bewahren ein jüdisches Kind vor strafrechtlicher Verurteilung (p. 80)
	3. Schluss (p. 84)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of Italy / Italy in the Middle Ages | Court: Courts in Italy | Sex and the law: Rape / Rape in Italy