The Descent of Man

When, owing to female infanticide, the women
of a tribe were few, the habit of capturing wives
from neighbouring tribes would naturally arise.
Sir J. Lubbock, however, as we have seen, attributes
the practice in chief part to the former
existence of communal marriage, and to the
men having consequently captured women
from other tribes to hold as their sole property.
Additional causes might be assigned, such as
the communities being very small, in which
case, marriageable women would often be deficient.
That the habit was most extensively practised
during former times, even by the ancestors
of civilised nations, is clearly shewn by the
preservation of many curious customs and ceremonies,
of which Mr. M'Lennan has given an
interesting account. In our own marriages the
"best man" seems originally to have been the
chief abettor of the bridegroom in the act of
capture. Now as long as men habitually procured
their wives through violence and craft, they
would have been glad to seize on any woman,