Men were free to physically control and ???chastise??? their wives and other women in their households. (Though this summary points out that a lot of family violence was quite public rather than private until the latter half of the 19th century. <a href="http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/history/36809.htm)">http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/history/36809.htm)</a> Even when a law was passed in England making it illegal to ???take??? women and girls from the