I understand that during the Age of Piracy, circa 17/18th Century, there was a prohibition on executing a pregnant woman, as it meant executing the unborn (and presumably innocent) child.
Was this prohibition prevalent in Mythic Europe?
That can't be conclusively answered on an RPG forum. But if interested, you can start with
Access to the full paper might cost money.
For a saga, you might look for pertinent laws in its specific region first: common law (see the article above), roman law (which had provisions to spare those pregnant from execution), langobard law and such, then research a particular law and time.
2 Likes
So it looks like the prohibition is an old one. Thus likely to be known in places where most local laws that are based off of Roman and/or Germanic. That is a good starting point.
Thanks
Yes. Especially for law in the HRE, there is the Sachsenspiegel, book III article 3:
Men en scal ouer nen wif richten de leuendlich kint dreget hoger denne to hud onde to hare.
Translated: A wife bearing a living child must not suffer harder judgement than by "skin and hair". This allows public beating, shearing and branding - but not execution.
1 Like
Thanks for the translation.
Just a tip, don’t shell out any money to a journal. Contact the author and explain you are interested in reading their paper. They are allowed to distributed free copies is way. I have done this professional and it works a treat. You also get the build a relationship with the author sometimes.
4 Likes