Lemon's Domestic Violence Law is organized as a conventional
law-school casebook — a collection of judicial opinions, statutes, and
articles selected, edited, and commented upon by the author. The first
selection, written by Cheryl Ward Smith (no institutional affiliation
is given), offers students a historical perspective on
domestic-violence law. According to Ward:

"The history of women's abuse began over 2,700 years ago in the year
753 BC. It was during the reign of Romulus of Rome that wife abuse was
accepted and condoned under the Laws of Chastisement. ... The laws
permitted a man to beat his wife with a rod or switch so long as its
circumference was no gre...

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Lemon's Domestic Violence Law is organized as a conventional
law-school casebook — a collection of judicial opinions, statutes, and
articles selected, edited, and commented upon by the author. The first
selection, written by Cheryl Ward Smith (no institutional affiliation
is given), offers students a historical perspective on
domestic-violence law. According to Ward:

"The history of women's abuse began over 2,700 years ago in the year
753 BC. It was during the reign of Romulus of Rome that wife abuse was
accepted and condoned under the Laws of Chastisement. ... The laws
permitted a man to beat his wife with a rod or switch so long as its
circumference was no greater than the girth of the base of the man's
right thumb. The law became commonly know as 'The Rule of Thumb.' These
laws established a tradition which was perpetuated in English Common
Law in most of Europe."

Where to begin? How about with the fact that Romulus of Rome never
existed. He is a figure in Roman mythology — the son of Mars, nursed by
a wolf. Problem 2: The phrase "rule of thumb" did not originate with
any law about wife beating, nor has anyone ever been able to locate any
such law. It is now widely regarded as a myth, even among feminist
professors.

A few pages later, in a selection by Joan Zorza, a domestic-violence
expert, students read, "The March of Dimes found that women battered
during pregnancy have more than twice the rate of miscarriages and give
birth to more babies with more defects than women who may suffer from
any immunizable illness or disease." Not true. When I recently read
Zorza's assertion to Richard P. Leavitt, director of science
information at the March of Dimes, he replied, "That is a total error
on the part of the author. There was no such study." The myth started
in the early 1990s, he explained, and resurfaces every few years.

Zorza also informs readers that "between 20 and 35 percent of women