family-rule

Updated: July 2, 2025

Though the family-rule was despotic, it was the rule of a body rather than of a chief; the family-head really exercising authority in the name of the rest .... In this sense, the family still remains a despotism; but the powers of its legal head are now checked, from within as well as from without, by later custom.

Lafcadio Hearn - Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation