or DEFLOWERING, the act of violating or taking away a woman's virginity. See Defloration VIRGINITY.—Death or marriage are decreed by the civil law in case of defloration.

The ancients had so much respect for virgins, that they would not put them to death till they had first procured them to be deflowered. It is said, the natives of the coast of Malabar pay strangers to come and deflower their brides.

In Scotland and the northern parts of England, it was a privilege of the lords of the manor, granted them by King Ewen, that they should have the first night's lodging with their tenants wives. King Malcolm III. allowed the tenants to redeem this service at a certain rate, called marcheta, consisting of a certain number of cows: Buchanan says it was redeemed with half a mark of silver. The same custom had place in Wales, Flanders, Frieland, and some parts of Germany.