User:Madrut16/sandbox

Hittite Law
In Hittite law, there were parts that where women had similar rights to men as well as others where they were treated differently or unequally. In general, women had just as much right to have their legal cases heard as men did. This is one aspect where they enjoyed some rights similar to men.

In other parts of the law, they were less equal. In cases of adultery, there were several distinctions that can be observed. First, if a wife was caught with another man by her husband, he had the right to kill her. The wife did not have this right if her husband was adulterous. Second, there is also a difference between married women and those who were single. Death was the typical punishment for committing adultery if a woman was married, whether it was by the husband when caught or by the king acting as chief justice after a trial. However, for single women, the same act was not considered a crime at all. The husband could also choose to divorce the wife if he decided to spare her life during the proceedings.

Rape is another example of explicit discrimination. Location was an important factor in determining who was punished. The man would only be penalized if the crime took place outside of the home. If instead, it occurred within the household, then the women was deemed the guilty part and reprimanded. This was because her consent in that setting was assumed to be automatically given.