“In the early 1860s, North Carolina Chief Justice Richmond Pearson denied the divorce petition of a woman who claimed her husband had horsewhipped her. He noted in his decision: ‘The law gives the husband power to use the degree of force necessary to make the wife behave and know her place.’ ”
— From “Southern Culture: An Introduction” by John Beck, Wendy Jean Frandsen and Aaron Randall (2009)