Note: There are a couple theories about the origin of the phrase 'rule of thumb,' but most people think it comes from builders using the width of their thumbs to estimate an inch. Here at NAS we appreciate Lemon’s respect for classic sources. We look forward to a future edition of Domestic Violence Law where perhaps she can include Ovid’s account of domestic violence resulting in Philomel’s growing wings and flying away as a nightingale. Meaning: In this case, the rule of thumb is about how much water plants in gardens need. He is also credited with adding large amounts of territory and people to the dominion of Rome, including the Sabine women. In regard to the rule of thumb, for example, asserted that Romulus of Rome, who is credited in my book with being involved with the first antidomestic violence legislation, could not have this as he was merely a legendary, fictional character, who along with his brother Remus was suckled by a wolf. In fact, Plutarch and Livy each state that Romulus was the first king of Rome. He reigned from 753-717 BC, and created both the Roman Legions and the Roman Senate. Yet the essay in which this glaring mistake appears is included unchanged in the current edition of Lemon’s book. In the recent exchange between the two, Lemon stands by her book: The common belief is that the rule of thumb origin comes from an English law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick as long as the stick was no more wide than this thumb. BC, under Romulus the first king of Rome: “The laws permitted a man to beat his wife with a rod or switch so long as its circumference was no greater than the girth of the base of a man’s right thumb. The law became commonly known as the ‘Rule of Thumb.’” Wait a minute, said Sommers. That’s not even a stretch: Romulus was a mythical figure, not a historical one. Lemon, lecturer in domestic violence law at the University of California, Berkeley. The debate was precipitated by an essay Sommers had published in the Chronicle in June, where she criticized feminist scholarship as intellectually shoddy, error-laden and often driven by political advocacy rather than the search for truth. Even worse, Sommers argued, was the fact that feminist authors refuse to acknowledge and correct their errors, which continue to appear without alteration through multiple editions of several widely used textbooks.Īs a prime example, Sommers cited Domestic Violence Law, edited by Lemon, where one of the authors, Cheryl Ward Smith, asserts that the formal, legal sanction of domestic violence was first established in the year 753. “Although the court did uphold the lower court’s ruling that the husband who had struck his wife with ‘three licks’ from a ‘switch about the size of one of his fingers’ had not violated the law, the judges emphasized that their grounds were ‘not that the husband has the right to whip his wife much or little but that we will not interfere with family government in trifling cases.Last week my colleague Ashley Thorne noted the recent exchange in the Chronicle of Higher Education between Christina Hoff Sommers, NAS board member and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Nancy K. However, closer inspection reveals that the court repudiated both the right of a husband to beat his wife and specifically the rule of thumb, even ridiculing the latter…. “Some scholars have asserted that the rule of thumb became incorporated into American law… and a ruling by the State Supreme Court of North Carolina is cited. Then, point your middle finger perpendicular to your. “The rule was originally asserted in England by Judge Buller in 1783 - but English legal authorities challenged him and writers and cartoonists lampooned him. To form the mnemonic, first make an L-shape with the thumb and first two fingers of your right hand. “To illustrate the misogynous underpinnings of our society, analysts have referred to the ‘rule of thumb’ by which English and American law as recently as the 18th and 19th century reputedly upheld the right of a man to beat his wife with a rod, provided it was no thicker than his thumb….
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