Betrothment, a mutual promise of marriage. Among the ancient Greeks, the father made a selection for his daughter. The young couple kissed each other for the first time in the presence of their friends, and it was customary for the bridegroom to bring flowers daily until the wedding day to the house of his bride. In the laws of Moses there are some provisions respecting the state of the virgin who is betrothed, but nothing particularly referring to the act of betrothment. Selden's Uxor Ilebraica gives the schedule of later Hebrew contracts of betrothment, which are still in use among the orthodox Jews. The sponsalia of the Romans were invested with great legal importance. Children could be betrothed in their seventh year, and a public record was kept of the engagement, certified by the seals of witnesses, the bridegroom giving as a pledge to the bride an iron ring (annulus pronnbus), after which she proceeded to his house, where sandals, a spindle, and a distaff were presented to her, while a hymn was sung in honor of Thalassius. In the middle ages the Roman and canon statutes constituted the law on the subject. While the Greek church considered be-trothments as binding as weddings, the church of Rome viewed them simply as promises of marriage.

But as much confusion ensued, the council of Trent decreed that no betrothment was valid without the presence of a priest and of two or three witnesses. This decree was adopted in France by Louis XIII. in 1639, and became known as the ordonnance de Blois. Until the revolution of 1789, when betroth-ments ceased to have legal importance, they were generally celebrated in France by pronouncing the nuptial blessings in front of the church, by reading the marriage contract, and by exchanging presents, while the French bridegroom, as was also the case with the Roman bridegroom, had to pay a certain amount of earnest money to ratify the bargain. In England, formal engagements of this kind were usual down to the time of the reformation. In Shakespeare and other writers many illustrations occur, from which it may be inferred that betrothments were celebrated by the interchange of rings, the kiss, the joining of hands, and the attestation of witnesses. The ecclesiastieal law which punished a violation of the pledge by excommunication was abolished under George II. Betrothment in England was a legal bar to marriage with another.

Previous to Anne Boleyn's execution Henry VIII. obtained a decree of divorce in the ecclesiastical court on the ground of her alleged former betrothment with Northumberland. The only legal remedy against the violation of betrothment at the present time is an action for breach of promise. In Scotland, however, betrothment when taking place with the free, deliberate, and clear "present consent" of both parties, may be enforced against the recusant party, and constitutes marriage itself. (See "Treatise on the New Divorce Jurisdiction," by Macqueen, 1858, and "Exposition of the Laws of Marriage and Divorce," by Ernst Browning, 1872.) In Germany betrothment is still more generally celebrated than in most other countries, and must be legalized by two witnesses. The pledges usually consist in the interchange of rings. The contract may be dissolved by mu-tual consent; but a violation of it, once attended with severe penalties, is still punished. Children born by the bride to the bridegroom are regarded as if born in wedlook, even if no marriage succeeds the betrothment.

In the United States betrothment has only the moral force of a mutual pledge, and in case of a breach of promise the law provides for redress. - Some peculiarities of betrothment among semi-civilized and savage races may be mentioned. The Arab sends a relative to negotiate about his intended bride, and the price at which she is to be had. The bridegroom of Kamtchatka has to serve in the house of his prospective father-in-law before an engagement is allowed to take place. With the Letts and Esthonians no engagement is considered valid until the parent and relatives of the bride have tasted the brandy which the bridegroom presents. Among the Hottentots, the would-be bridegroom is not allowed to propose without being accompanied by his father. Father and son walk arm in arm, with pipes in their mouths, to the house of the bride, where the engagement takes place. Among some of the indigenous tribes of America it was customary to keep the betrothed woman in durance anil on short allowance for 40 days, as the superstition prevailed that she would exert an occult influence upon anything she touched or anybody with whom she came in contact.