Sexual Transgressions in Early Byzantine Law

When Victorian writers talked about the home, they invoked a range of contested ideas and complex affects about the material and imagined space where self and society meet. Emerging as a fully developed ideology by the middle of the 19th century, domesticity organized beliefs about the family, gender identity, sexuality, subject formation, socioeconomic class, work, civilization, and empire. As an ideology, Victorian domesticity pivots on two figures: the figure of separate spheres and the figure of the domestic woman. The binary logic of separate spheres identifies a private domain where femininity, leisure, feeling, and an ethic of care coalesce in opposition to a public domain where masculinity, work, industry, endurance, and an ethic of achievement preside. Governing the private sphere, the idealized middle-class domestic woman exercises a moral authority that derives from her naturally self-sacrificial spirit, a socioeconomic authority in managing a labor-intensive household, and a creative authority in using the materials of private life representing the family’s social status as a matter of financial and ethical respectability. In this sense, the home provided a rhetoric and narrative form for mapping an individual’s accommodation of social categories and economic forces. For better or worse, the image of the family hearth’s comfort, coziness and good cheer—its status as a haven in a heartless world—presided over a large swath of the Victorian imagination despite ripped patches that exposed domestic violence, sexual transgression, gender subordination, and socioeconomic coercion. For every sentimental Dickensian Christmas feast displaying a repentant miser breaking bread with a disabled waif, there were equally popular stories in which children are beaten, wives incarcerated, and households blighted by industrial suffering and bureaucratic indifference. Victorian domesticity thus relied on both mythologizing and demythologizing energies.

Sexual disorder behaviour is growing day by day in our society. This behaviour conflicts with religion and socio-cultural values. One of the behaviour is related to sexual intercourse, which is consisted of two categories, legal and illegal. Illegal sexual intercourse, homosexual intercourse (gay and lesbian) in particular, needs knowledge among many disciplinaries. Forensic is necessary in order to enforce the law regarding sexual violence. By using forensics, we are able to medically examine the victim and obtain the information on how the crime happened. The result of the examination will be recorded as visum et repertum which becomes one of the evidence during trial.
 This research is conducted to find the sexual disorder behaviour in homosexual intercourse using forensics. The method of the research is juridical normative research discussed with law theories in accordance to the law regulations. This research aims to prove the disorder on sexual orientation by using forensics, which is by using either VeR or the experts testimony to solve sexual violence crimes.

Evaluation of sexual misconduct complaints: The Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, 1991 to 1995

Renato Barahona has distilled years of meticulous research into a pioneering study of sexual criminality, women, honour and the law in early modern Basque Spain. Presenting his argument in a lucid and engaging style, Barahona explores the litigation of honour and dishonour by female victims of seduction. He successfully demonstrates that - in this region and era - female honour lost through sexual transgression could be redeemed through recourse to the law. Drawing from records of over 350 lawsuits, which took place between 1500 and 1750 (all primary sources, and all previously unpublished), Barahona offers new insights into the role of the secular courts in serving the interests of women. He does much to broaden our understanding of courtship, sexual practices, sexual vocabulary, marriage customs, cohabitation and violence against women. Sex Crimes, Honour, and the Law in Early Modern Spain will be welcomed by students and scholars in the areas of social history, women's studies, law and literature.

This article originally appeared in Trouble and Strife (Winter 1996/97, pp 44-52) and is reproduced, by kind permission of the original publishers, as Deborah Cameron's thought-provoking analysis of the Rosemary West case is felt to deserve a wider audience. In the article, Deborah Cameron reports that feminists were mostly silent about the Rosemary West case in spite of having an analysis of sex crime, because female perpetrators of sexual murder seemingly did not fit that analysis. She argues, however, that female sexual murderers can be understood within a feminist framework. Identifying Rosemary West as one of only a handful of female sexual murderers, Cameron theorises that Rosemary and Fred West, like other sexual murderers, were constructing a form of identity based on sexual transgression and existential transcendence, perhaps as a strategy for dealing with their own history of abuse. What Cameron also provides us with is an explanation for why sexual murderers are overwhelmingly male, an analysis based on an understanding of the context of patriarchy.

The present qualitative study explores the rationalization of 24(twenty-four) men reported to the police of conducting sexual offense, to justify their sexual offense or transgression. Denials vary from absolute denial, minimization, such as claiming of having mutual consent sex, denial of victim harm, and a rarer phenomenon but apparent in two subjects, a kind of depersonalization. More specific denials relate to gender-based rationalization is prevalent, such as having unharmonious relationship with wife therefore they need other women for sexual outlet, or the girls are not ‘good girl’. Very strong rationalization is related to the discourse on ‘female chastity’ in which offenders justify their behavior as OK since their target subjects are not ‘good girls’, be evidenced by they are not virgin anymore, hang out at night, or have relation with other men. Offenders who are in relationships with their victims need to prove the chastity of their female partner, or felt suspicious and angry about the past relationships of the girls therefore forcing sex or conducting sexual assault. Offender might adopt a ‘professional’, a ‘hero’, a ‘revenger’ as well as a ‘victim’ role. All cannot be separated from the cultural context of Indonesia and are explaining the beliefs of male offenders about men as superior and having authority over women. Keywords: sexual offense; female chastity; cultural context

The prevention of gender-based violence and discrimination continues to be a major barrier to women empowerment in control over their social, economic and legal decisions. It is a study on the trends and pattern of crimes against women in Himachal Pradesh over a decade from 2015 to 2025, its implications on the decision making autonomy of women. Using qualitative methods, this study draws on government documents, legal frameworks and academic literature to explore the intersection of gendered violence and women’s agency. Women are always under pressure because despite the existence of laws, crime such as rape and molestation and domestic violence to beat and humiliate wives and abduction still very much exists and create an atmosphere of fear that threatens the movement of women and denies them access to education and involvement in the workforce. Cultural fears, low conviction rates, underreporting, and structural issues prevent women from approaching the justice system. Economically dependent on male relatives, women often have no negotiating power to leave abusive relationships or seek financial autonomy. The study also emphasizes intersectional determinants caste, rural-urban differentials, socio-economic class that impact women’s experience of violence and ease of access to justice. These findings highlight the need for urgent, context-appropriate, evidence based policy interventions in rural communities taking in futuristic considerations. To ensure that laws become a reality on the ground, the government needs to establish law enforcement mechanisms, improve legal awareness among all citizens, and use the protective measures while enforcing Creating safety and equity allows women to engage in decision-making without fear and coercion, and in a way that is right for them.

Domestic abuse is of all times and all places, and depending on contextual factors, it will take many different forms. Christo Thesnaar’s contribution elsewhere in this volume, about human dignity, domestic abuse, and domestic violence provides an impressive insight in the vicious circle of abuse from a South African context. > In the case of Ellen Pakkies, this emanates into the utter tragic of a mother killing her son. After a long history of son-mother abuse, Ellen is visited by her son who once again displays his usual state of apathy. This time she decides to make him talk once and for all, so she puts a rope around his neck and tightens it. He swears at her, tries to grab a plank off the floor, but this time she is in charge. She will teach him a lesson. And before long, she has killed him. One of the reasons why the story is so heartbreaking is that it runs counter to everything we, as parents or as children, conceive to be the normal course of events in families. It will not be hard to find similar examples of domestic violence in other developed countries. Substance abuse is widespread in Europe, especially amongst citizens with a low socio-economic status. Still, the extent of violent crimes in South Africa and the gap between the socio-economic classes there justify the conclusion that the story presented by Thesnaar is much more typical for a South African context than it is for a European one. And there is another element in this account which strikes as un-European: the story told, the heuristics used, the analysis made, and the questions asked, illustrate the presence of a living tradition of highly qualified Protestant theology. In this contribution, we present a story of abuse taken from a radically different context which, on a closer look, is strikingly similar to the one recounted by Thesnaar. It is taken from the context of a euthanasia procedure, i.e., an assisted death of a patient by his doctor, at his request. We will start by shortly explaining the legal and medical-ethical framework surrounding the story. After the narrative is told we conclude by raising three points of discussion.

In November 2007, the media around the globe were transfixed by US student Amanda Knox, an alleged participant in the sexual assault and murder of her flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. Her celebrity status was established within days of the murder, and at the end of 2008 she was voted Woman of the Year by an Italian TV station, ahead of Carla Bruni and Sarah Palin. The focus of this study is the representation of Amanda Knox in the UK media, particularly the coverage offered by the Daily Mail. The Mail has shown a detailed and sustained interest in the case throughout, its focus on her character and personal life helping to secure Knox's status as a celebrity murderess (and, in the wake of her acquittal in October 2011, as an apparent celebrity victim of injustice). Focusing on the Mail’s narratological strategies, as well as its rhetorical ones, this study explores connections between celebrity, sex and violence in order to assess what the Knox phenomenon reveals about contemporary attitudes towards transgressive female sexuality. Under scrutiny are the ways in which the celebrity crime figure Amanda Knox has been represented, and how these representations conform to dominant ideological constructions of the violent female.

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Regulation of “Sodomy” in the Latin East and WestRuth Mazo KarrasRuth Mazo Karras Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThe chronology of the widespread criminalization of same-sex activity in medieval Europe is generally agreed upon. John Boswell argued that up until the twelfth century, same-sex desire and activity were not a major concern to the church or to lay society (writing in the late 1970s he used the terms “homosexuality” and “gay people”).1 When Peter Damian wrote his Book of Gomorrah sometime around the middle of the eleventh century, the first major blast against same-sex relations among the clergy, the Pope declined to act on it.2 Boswell argued that this changed in the thirteenth century, when legal systems began to adopt strict penalties (and sometimes enforce them) and churchmen, following in particular the lead of Thomas Aquinas, used the discourse of “nature” to cast any nonreproductive sex as deeply deviant. Joan Cadden has demonstrated that the discourse of “nature” was far from unitary. “Nature” could be understood in different ways, and medical commentators thought that it was in some men’s natures to desire penetration; but while this demonstrates that the concept of “natural” was indeed very complicated, these writers had to work against a backdrop of church doctrine.3R. I. Moore adopted Boswell’s argument and connected it to a larger framework of the “formation of a persecuting society.”4 This was the era in which the church set up legal frameworks to investigate heretics and Jews, but not, Moore suggests, because heretics were becoming a worse problem. He argues these apparatuses were a way for the emerging secular powers, in concert with the church, to establish and exert authority. The categorizing and persecution of religious and sexual deviance were thus part of the logic of developing institutions of power. Moore suggests that the persecution of what he calls “male homosexuality” came somewhat later than that of heretics and Jews, but he notes the Council of Nablus in the early twelfth century and the connection of sexual deviance with Islam, as well as with heresy. As I will argue, this connection was indeed central to the shift in the central Middle Ages toward the persecution of same-sex activity by secular authorities. The criminalization of same-sex activity in the Latin West may have been an unintended consequence of Western European polemic against Muslim societies.This article will for the most part not deal with the church’s attitudes toward same-sex relations, nor with the more positive aspects of same-sex relations in medieval culture. Scholars of medieval sexuality, particularly in the field of literature, have demonstrated the existence of subcultures of same-sex sex, love, and desire, whether expressed through identity, writing (including rich traditions of love poetry in many medieval languages), or action. There is much in the Middle Ages that is distinctly queer, and accepting of the queer. Here I discuss a grimmer reality about same-sex activity during this period: state violence against it, or the threat thereof.Terminology in this area of study can be difficult. Michel Foucault famously connected the invention of the “homosexual” with bourgeois modernity: “Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphroditism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species.”5 In the realm of law, whence he originally derived it, Foucault’s distinction between acts and identities does hold up better than it does in some other areas. It was not homosexuality, as an identity or way of being, that was criminalized, it was particular acts. Therefore, while I occasionally use “homosexual” as an adjective (for acts rather than persons), I stay mainly with “same-sex sexual activity.” Sodomy is used here only where the Latin or medieval vernacular uses its cognate. It does not always refer to same-sex activity; indeed, Foucault called it an “utterly confused category” and suggested that, “as defined by the ancient civil or canonical codes, sodomy was a category of forbidden acts; their perpetrator was nothing more than the juridical subject of them.”6 It could be used to denote any sort of sexual intercourse other than penis-in-vagina, man-on-top. It could also be used in a more generalized way to mean not specific activities but rather a general miasma of sexual sin.7 Therefore it must be considered carefully in context. Mark Jordan argued that it does not have a stable meaning in medieval theology but is associated with outsiders, and easily slips into metaphors of contagion.8 Often legal contexts do not use it at all. When it does appear in a legal context, it most often means sex between two men. To discuss same-sex relations as a sin in an ecclesiastical context, as in the enumeration of the various branches of lechery by late medieval moralists, writers most often used euphemisms: “sin against nature” or “unspeakable sin,” the former of longer standing and the latter coming into use in the twelfth or thirteenth century.9Sexual accusations as political tools against those in power were of course known in the Middle Ages, and not limited to same-sex relations.10 Henry IV, enemy of Pope Gregory VII and the church reform movement, was accused by churchmen of committing sexual sins with both genders.11 These were rhetorical rather than practical accusations. It is hard to know how much real concern with behavior was behind them, and how much they merely reflect partisan mud-slinging; but this sort of mud was available to sling. Similarly, when Orderic Vitalis complains about the sodomy rampant at the Anglo-Norman court, it cannot be taken as a true account of the behavior there, but it is noteworthy that it is an accusation of sodomy rather than some other form of debauchery that he chooses to level at William Rufus’s courtiers—a choice made clearer by the fact that he accuses the king himself of heterosexual debauchery.12 In any case, political accusations in this period, the eleventh to twelfth centuries, did not bring with them prosecution. For the most part, secular law in Latin Christendom up through the central Middle Ages was not especially concerned with same-sex behavior.The chronology in the Greek world is somewhat different, with Justinian issuing a novella in 538 calling for the death penalty for those engaged in crimes against nature.13 Justinian’s Institutes also followed some earlier Roman interpretations of the Lex Iulia de adulteriis, providing the death penalty for adultery, which included same-sex activity between males.14 Procopius reports that some men were punished with castration even though this was not provided in the law, and suggests that accusations of unnatural activity were used as a way of attacking political enemies.15 But Angeliki Laiou points out that although the death penalty for sodomy can be found in later Byzantine law, the examples are much earlier, and by the central Middle Ages commentators who read these passages were not providing contemporary examples, as they were for other crimes.16A turning point for the prosecution of same-sex activity in Western Europe, although it did not take place in Western Europe, came already in the twelfth century, well before Boswell’s invocation of thirteenth-century understandings of “nature.” An assembly at Nablus in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1120 provided for exile, mutilation, or death for a number of sexual offenses. This assembly, often referred to as a council in modern scholarship but called a conventus publicus et curia generalis by William of Tyre, the one chronicler to mention it, was called by both the patriarch and the king of Jerusalem and was attended by lay as well as ecclesiastical officials.17 The basic purpose of the council was to resolve the investiture conflict for the kingdom of Jerusalem: the first three canons constitute what is called the Concordat of Nablus, in which the king and nobility granted complete control of tithes to the church.18 The canons then continue, however, to regulate other activity, including what has been called the first dress code legislation in Europe (forbidding Franks from dressing in Saracen clothing) and a number of canons on sexual activity. The latter prescribe extremely harsh punishments. For example, canon 5 provides an unprecedented punishment for adultery on the part of a man: “Whoever shall be proved to have lain with the wife of another, the sentence of the court having been heard, shall be emasculated, and shall be expelled from this land. The adulteress shall have her nose cut off, unless her husband wishes to show mercy to her. If he does so, let them both cross the sea.”19 Roman law had given the husband the right under some circumstances to kill the couple if they were in flagrante, but the state provided only the punishment of exile. Leviticus did prescribe the death penalty, although it was not enforced in Jewish law after the destruction of the Temple; Christ’s admonition to the crowd, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” was a response to this law. The church condemned adultery by both men and women, set penance for it, and sometimes allowed a husband to repudiate his wife for it, although not to marry another.20 The canons of Nablus also provided castration or other maiming for other sexual crimes, in particular those across religious lines, for example, canons 12–13: “If a man is proved to have knowingly lain with a Saracen woman, let his penis be cut off, and let her nose be cut off. If a man rapes his own Saracen woman, let her be enslaved to the fisc, and let his testicles be cut off.”21The punishment for sodomy was even harsher: burning. The canons made a distinction between the active and the passive partner, although only to emphasize that both were to be subject to punishment (if adults): “If any adult is proven to have defiled themself willingly with sodomitical depravity, both the active and the passive partner shall be burned.”22 Canon 10 seems to imply that regardless of age the passive partner could be a victim of rape: “If someone, having suffered sodomitic wickedness by force, conceals it and permits themself to be polluted again and does not declare it to justice, and it shall afterward be proved, let them be judged as a sodomite.” Canon 9, however, suggests that this is more likely a child or old person: “If a child or aged person is defiled by force by a sodomite and raises an outcry, the sodomite shall be given over to the flames.”23 In medieval monasteries, as discussed by Elliott, or in the subculture of medieval Florence described by Michael Rocke, sodomy is an age-patterned offense, mature men or older boys with younger boys.24 The inclusion of elders as victims here suggests that this is perhaps not a matter only of desire, shaped by the cultural division into active masculine and passive effeminate, but also of physical strength. It is noteworthy in the canons of Nablus, as in so many other contexts, that the only sexual behavior by women that is a matter of explicit concern is with men, particularly men of other groups, but it is possible that the masculine singular is meant to be inclusive; burning, unlike castration, could be applied to either sex. The death penalty here suggests that sodomy was considered the most serious of the offenses, although burning was specified only for the third offense; the first could be expiated with penance, the second with penance and expulsion from the kingdom.We do not know to what extent these laws were put into force. One point that suggests that they were not is the use of the different language for mutilation for sexual crimes. Four different terms are used for the genital mutilation of men (eviretur, ementuletur, extesticulatur, eunuchizabitur), and two for the nasal mutilation of women (enasetur, naso curtetur). The different punishments are for different offenses and it is possible that things were so finely calibrated that a different kind of mutilation happened for different offenses, but not in all cases: “emasculate” and “eunuch-ize” must also be the same thing as removal of either the penis or testicles or both. Two different terms are also used for burning for sodomy: comburatur, flammis tradatur. This is very likely to be elegant variation, whether in terminology for the same thing or in thinking up an appropriate punishment that was not (as yet) practiced. As Klaus van Eickels suggests, the use of language is an indication that the canons were intended to be largely symbolic, a statement of the moral stance of the ecclesiastical and lay authorities, realigning the community with God by placing extremely harsh punishments on behavior believed to contradict God’s law.25 It sounds much too careful to be a codification of current practice. The fact that William of Tyre is the only chronicler to mention the council—Fulcher of Chartres says nothing about it—and that he does not list the canons but simply says that copies were placed in all the churches, suggests too that the canons were not intended to be practical law; for William it was important that the council or conventus had placed the king and patriarch of Jerusalem in positions as leaders of the Latin East.26 Indeed, it is not certain that the canons as found in the Sidon manuscript are exactly those enacted at the council.The context is important here, especially as the king’s predecessor Baldwin I may have, as Jay Rubenstein puts it, “lived in a chainmail closet” and had male Muslim or ex-Muslim lovers.27 Certainly sexual contact between members of the different communities in the Latin East was not unknown: Baldwin I and Baldwin II married Armenian Christians, as did many other Franks.28 Marriage between Christians of different communities, however, was very different from sexual relations between Christians and Muslims, which could not be recognized as marriage; in addition, it was different from sexual activities between two men. The major military defeat suffered by an Antiochene army in 1119 (the “Field of Blood”) may have prompted the attendees at the council to assert a particularly strong moral code of conduct, a performance of purity, particularly directed against sexual misbehavior with non-Christians, who could have been a threat in the case of invasion.29 But the focus on purity need not be solely a direct result of that battle. In the early years of Outremer there was a general sense of being a frontier society and a consequent concern about behavior that might put the community at physical or moral risk. The Franks thought of themselves as the heirs of Biblical leaders like Joshua, who had counseled the Israelites to remain pure (Joshua 23), refraining from intermarriage and idolatry among other things.30Benjamin Kedar has demonstrated that the canons of Nablus resemble Byzantine legal issuances, and suggests the direct or indirect influence of the Ecloga, dating from 741 on some of the punishments. This influence may have come via the local Greek Christian population. Castration as punishment appears in the Ecloga, though not specifically for the offenses for which the Nablus canons prescribe it. The punishment for adulteresses in Nablus—having the nose cut off—resembles that in the Ecloga, where the same punishment was applied to men as well for various offenses. Death by the sword is the punishment for male-male sex, although the “passive” partner may be spared if underage, and penectomy is the punishment for bestiality.31 Van Eickels points out that castration was practiced in Norman realms, although nowhere else, as a punishment for political offenses, and many of the lords and in the kingdom of Jerusalem have been with it from It is found occasionally in Western Europe for various offenses, as in a from the thirteenth century, or in of castration as punishment does not up in other legal from the Latin It could be that its use here, taken from Greek law, was an to the Latin leaders as leaders of all the Christians in the is a certain logic to castration as a punishment for sexual offenses. The point of harsh punishments for adultery in the ancient at was to the of the This is an under Roman law was a married who had sex with a man not her or a man who had sex with with it a of the sexual so that a married man who had sex with a not his wife could be considered an although this was not For the man who with castration as punishment was not the removal of the with which the had been although that was a for various of It also was a removal of the to The between intercourse and to what has called a in which the to not the of the was Castration for appeared in other European legal in laws to William the and in the although again it is not that this penalty was applied in between men in the canons of Nablus did not into this the punishment there was the first in Western European that this was the the law from one of the had provided castration and for men who had sex with other men know about the of a law, or indeed the behind do have the of that Justinian enforced his own the castration of men in same-sex relations, a century which may have the But Nablus was providing death like the is in the century that a punishment in Western The de et de in the thirteenth century in the sodomy by the penalty of burning as provided for sodomy in Nablus and castration as provided there for other crimes. This thirteenth-century in law may have been by laws and attitudes in The de et de is noteworthy as the first of secular law same-sex The sodomy is used here to that women perhaps be understood as included The canons of Nablus use masculine forms in about but it is possible it is intended in a like against can to both men and women, although the of have men, and modern work Boswell’s referred to “gay he mainly some of the have given for same-sex between women do not appear very often in the they did not because they did not women from to legal because they did not because they did not and because of that made women did not matter very of the for criminalization to men. has in late medieval but in the one he in most the was only not either or male and same-sex relations were to a where one partner the male and one the In some however, was used for a by has demonstrated this for the castration and then of for men in same-sex and of a for The is not one may that it is the penis for men. suggests that the of the passages on men and women that the an to the castration, as far as I can this is not as a medieval punishment for The Nablus with the of castration and for adultery, that the mutilation might be considered the which to the ancient world as a punishment for women, appears for in religious which to being and in (as in de in which the the nose of his It also was used as a punishment in Western Europe, as in the of of II of in a law of II from around it is a more punishment than being by her although if her husband did not to her be This may be a Byzantine as is the law of of from that an her nose and also seems to have used this punishment on a of as either or especially for sex both male and and suggests that it sometimes or was to It could also be an of the of the with which one this case, not the nose but the the being that a was the of of in via the and appears in medieval for in the at the as punishment for the the is to for the first and second may also be a or a and a man could be condemned to a the second may have been the the might not have had a of what was merely to The is not an although it to be the laws of the kingdom of it may have been made by a or for his own of it is a of Justinian’s as well as the of the The on sodomy is found in a set of punishments to be current in the of It is not that they reflect contemporary practice. There are other crimes as by a by burning but most by The only other one for which the punishment is mutilation, however, is where has to a and is punished by the of The both of castration as punishment for sexual and of secular punishment for sodomy are and here and could well have come from the de in the thirteenth century by de a not a the canons of Nablus, burning for and as punishment for or and for and it “Whoever against the and does not to to the way of or who he must be and all his of also provided death for The on sodomy is as to the penalty, but into much more with to the of sodomy sin that men with women do not come into and the extent to which God may have used sodomy with as an accusation against his political also the death penalty for sodomy in two late thirteenth-century in which and in which burning. In case, are included in a list of to be punished in this It is noteworthy that of these whether from or is a of legislation perhaps the which were not put into all are what to be but in an could have for and found them in the canons of is the between the canons of Nablus and these Western European suggests that the inclusion of the burning of what he calls in the Nablus canons a punishment for in the Middle This is not, however, the case until the thirteenth the canons of Nablus up The the law of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from the century, and not specifically on the of this or other crimes, but on the for the death penalty the of the says in a shall not to and then in and and will The as the of the on and the following in those and be put to The burning of was not, as points taken from law the of this it seems to have come from the canons of Nablus the can thirteenth-century from Europe have been by its I cannot that they but they could have Nablus was of its on John the of Nablus against as the same the Council a century which that and be from Christians in their dress and specified the as the of This could well have been not the same but on of the Nablus to William of Tyre, copies of the canons of Nablus were placed in church in the kingdom of even given to can that there were copies one has from the church of The other legal as up in the of the by the of who is known to have been in between and copies of the may have up in Europe earlier but are not As points however, there were a number of European who are in the Latin East for a of one or years at a and who may have to have been in Roman and canon rather than in or law, but as the de et de is in part a from or of Roman law, it is that the person who it had with a who had in it need not be a law or set of canons that known in Western could have been even if do not know the was not to Europe from the Middle nor I here that it more in the twelfth I that it at that to more because it was a of and for only in to sexual activity was often as a place where a must be in terms of might a that could not be This is in the canons of The sexual of and but often not, was a of Christian particularly in the context of against The of these accusations have to do with the of Christian women by Muslim that did in or in as did the of Muslim women by Christian men, and the of women by members of their own religious but widespread of the Muslim of especially the of and of the of men’s having sex with their in law, to this that or Christian boys or adult men were also current at the of the or and the

Sexual violence is a major public health and human rights problem with consequences on women’s physical,mental sexual and reproductive health. Data on sexual violence typically come from police, clinical settings,nongovernmental organisations and survey research. The magnitude of the problem of sexual violence maybe viewed as tip of iceberg floating in water. There is limited amount of information on sexually violentmen, it appears that sexual violence is found in almost all countries in all socioeconomic classes and in allage groups from childhood onwards. Data on alleged accused also show that most direct their acts at womenwhom they already know. A total of 70 cases were analysed, 40 (57.14%) cases belong to Hindu religion, 44(62.85%) cases were unmarried, 32 (45.71%) cases were illiterate, 26 (37.14%) cases the offence occurredin open space, 34(48.57%) cases the incident was consensual act. In 35(50%) cases the alleged accused andvictim was lovers, the age of the accused in 38(54.28%) cases were between 19-25 years, age of the victimsin 55 (78.57 %) cases was in between 13 – 18 years. In examination of alleged accused there were no scars,ulcer, sinus discharge and sexually transmitted disease in any of the case. Sexual violence has generally beena neglected area of research in most parts of the world, yet the evidence suggests that it is a public healthproblem of substantial proportions. Much more needs to be done both to understand the phenomenon andto prevent it.

The purpose of this Element is to introduce the study of later Roman law (Byzantine law) to a wider academic audience. Currently a great deal of specialized knowledge is necessary to approach the field of Byzantine law. This Element works to break down the barriers to this fascinating subject by providing a brief, clear introduction to the topic. It makes a scholarly contribution by placing Byzantine law in a broader perspective and by reconsidering some of the aspects of the study of Byzantine law. The Element places Byzantine law outside of the box by comparing, for example, Byzantine law to the European legal tradition and highlighting the role that Byzantine law can have in unravelling the common legal past of Europe. It gives also information on the status of Byzantine legal studies and makes suggestions on how to study Byzantine law and why.

Valuing diversity leads to scientific excellence, the progress of science and most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do. We can value diversity not only in words, but also in actions.

Late Roman Law and the Quranic Punishments for Adultery

The treatment of white-collar offenders by the criminal justice system has been a central concern since the concept of white-collar crime was first introduced In general, it has been assumed that those higher up the social hierarchy have an advantage in every part of the legal process, including the punishment they receive as white-collar criminals. In a controversial study of white-collar crime sentencing in the federal district courts, Wheeler, Weisburd, and Bode contradicted this assumption when they found that those of higher status were more likely to be imprisoned and, when sentenced to prison, were likely to receive longer prison terms than comparable offenders of lower status. While they argued that results were consistent with “what those who do the sentencing often say about it,” their analyses failed to control for the role of social class in the sentencing process. In this article we reanalyze the Wheeler et al sentencing data, including both measures of socioeconomic status and class position. Our findings show that class position does have an independent influence on judicial sentencing behavior. But this effect does not demand revision in the major findings reported in the earlier study.