Woman, we include under this rubric all persons of the feminine sex, whether girls, married women or widows; but in certain respects married women are distinguished from unmarried and widowed women from married.

All wives and unmarried women are at times included under the term men . L. 1. and 152. ff. de verb. signif.

The condition of women in general is nevertheless different in several ways from that of men.

Women are earlier nubile than men, the age of puberty is fixed for them at 12 years; their personality is commonly formed sooner than that of men, they also cease to be of childbearing capability earlier than men. citiùs pubescunt, citiùs senescunt . (early puberty, early old age)

Men, according to the prerogatives of their sex and the force of their temperament, are naturally capable of all sorts of employment and activities; whereas women, due to the fragility of their sex and their naturally delicacy, are excluded from many functions and incapable of certain activities.

First of all, in regard to the religious world, women can be canonesses, nuns, abbesses of an abbey of young girls; but they cannot hold a bishopric or other livings, nor be admitted to ecclesiastical orders, either major or minor. There were nevertheless deaconesses in the archaic Church, but this practice is no longer sustained.

In certain monarchical states, as in France, women, whether single, married or widowed, cannot succeed to the throne.

Women are neither admitted to military employment nor to the chivalric orders.

According to Roman law, which is in this regard followed throughout the kingdom, women are not admitted to public hearings; thus they cannot hold the office of judge, nor act as magistrate, nor serve as lawyer or prosecutor. L. 2. ff. de regul. jur .

In other times they acted as peers, and in this capacity sat in the parliament. Currently they can possess a female duchy and hold the title, but they no longer hold the office of peer. See Peer and Peerage.

In the past in France women could be arbiters, even passing judgment in person on their lands; but since lords are no longer allowed to render justice in person, women can no longer be either judges or arbiters.

They can nevertheless fulfill the function of experts, in their area of knowledge, in whatever art or profession is appropriate to their sex.

We note in the ancient ordinances that there was at one time a woman who functioned as headsman for women, such as when it was necessary to whip someone. See below Executeur de la Haute - Justice.

One cannot name them tutors or guardians except of their own children or grandchildren; there are nevertheless examples of women being named guardians of their prodigal, violent and outcast husbands.

Women are exempted from major levies and other duties.

But they are not exempted from duties, nor from corvées or other charges, whether real or personal. The corvée of a woman is valued at 6 deniers according to the custom of Troyes , article 192 . and that of a man at 12 deniers.

A few married and single women have been admitted into the literary academies; there are even a few of them who have received doctorates in the universities. Heléne-Lucrece Piscopia Cornara demanded the doctorate in Theology at the university of Padua; Cardinal Barbarigo, bishop of Padua, opposed it: she was forced to accept a doctorate in Philosophy, which was conferred upon her to universal acclaim, 25 June 1678. Bayle, oeuvres, tome I. p. 361. Young miss Patin received as well the same rank; and on the 10th May 1732, Laure Bassi, bourgeoise from Bologna, received a doctorate in Medicine at the preference of the senate, of the cardinal of Polignac, two bishops, the principle nobility, and the doctors of the university. Finally in 1750, signora Maria-Gaetana Agnese was named publicly to the post of professor of Mathematics at Bologna in Italy.

One cannot call women as witnesses to wills nor in acts before notaries; but they can give testimony in depositions, both in civil and criminal matters. See l'édit du 15 Novembre 1394; Joly, aux addit. t. II. p. 20 . Fontanon, [p. 476] xxxjx. tome I. page 618. le Prêtre, cane. III. Ch.

It is commonly said that two women are necessary to act as witness: nevertheless it is not that women's depositions count for half that of men, this is rather founded on the belief that women's testimony is in general light and subject to variation; this is why it is taken less seriously than that of men: it depends on the prudence of the judge to add more or less faith to the depositions of women, according to the quality of those who are deposing and other circumstances.

There are religious houses, communities and hospitals for women married and single, whose government is entrusted to married women.

No women are received into the male corporations and communities, such as communities of merchants and artisans, because women who take part in the business and trade of their husbands, are not considered reputable public merchants: but in several of these communities, the daughters of masters have the privilege of transferring the mastership to the one they marry; and widows of masters have the right to continue the business and trade of their husband, as long as they remain widows; or if it is an art that a woman cannot exercise, they can rent their privilege, as do the widows of surgeons.

There are certain businesses and trades reserved for wives and single women, who form among themselves bodies and communities which are their own, like the matrons or midwives, the linen merchants, fishwives, grain merchants, dressmakers, flower sellers, etc.

Women are not detainable bodily for civil debts, unless they are public merchants, or for stellionate deriving from their actions. See Detained by body.

At different times laws have been made to restrict luxury goods for women, of which the oldest is the Oppia law. See Oppia Law and Luxury.

There are also several specific regulations for the burial of women; in the abbey of S. Bertin they cannot ever be buried. See la chronologie des souverains d'Artois, dans le commentaire de Maillart, article des propriétaires, n. 3. de l'édit. de 1704 .