Europe Baltics In 1924, an elderly respondent retold a claim that even at the time of his grandparents' youth, in the early 1800s, the rule of first night had still been in widespread use in western Estonia; whether it had been a legal right he did not elaborate.
England In Shakespeare's play
Henry VI, Part 2 () the rebel
Jack Cade proclaims: "there shall not a maid be married, but she shall pay to me her maidenhead ere they have it". According to the French scholar Alain Boureau, Cade was demanding the payment of
merchet, not the right of first night. Howarth states that Cade's payment was simply the lord's compensation for a serf who departed to get married, and had no connection with any sexual "right" to maidens. The English lexicographer
Thomas Blount claimed in his of 1679 that the "right" had previously existed as a medieval custom of some English manors, but had been commuted into payment of money. However, Howarth points out that there is no evidence that Blount's theory actually reflected the medieval situation.
The Curiosities of Literature (1823) by the British writer
Isaac D'Israeli claimed the practice had been widespread across Europe.
France , who in 1762 was the first person to use the term . The supposed right was mentioned in 1556 in the of the French lawyer and author
Jean Papon. Papon's account was vague about attributing where this practice is said to have occurred. The French writer
Antoine du Verdier also commented on it in 1577, saying that he had been told that such a right had once existed in Scotland. The French philosopher
Montesquieu referred to the practice in
The Spirit of the Laws (1748), saying that it had been enforced in France over three nights, although this was a misinterpretation of the actual medieval practice whereby consummation of marriage was forbidden for the first or first three nights of a marriage, unless waived by buying an indulgence from a bishop or abbot.
Voltaire mentioned the practice in his , published in 1764. He wrote the five-act comedy or in 1762, although it was not performed until 1779, after his death. This play was the first time the term was used. In 19th-century France, a number of writers made other claims about the supposed power of the overlords during the
Ancien Régime, such as the (right of ravage; providing to the lord the right to devastate fields of his own domain), and the (right of lounging; it was said that a lord had the right to disembowel his serfs to warm his feet in).
Holy Roman Empire In
Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro, which premiered in 1786 with a libretto by
Lorenzo Da Ponte, the comic plot revolves around the successful efforts of the young bride and groom, Susanna and Figaro, to block the efforts of the unfaithful Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna. To achieve his aim, the frustrated Count threatens to reinstitute . It was based on a
play of the same title by
Pierre Beaumarchais.
Italy In the
Kingdom of Naples and its
Calabrian territories a notable case occurred with the nobleman
Francesco Campitelli (1596–1668), count of
Melissa and prince of
Strongoli, who in 1624 issued an ordinance to reinstate the alleged jus primae noctis over his peasantry in the feudal domain of Melissa. According to local chronicles, the measure provoked popular outrage, and Campitelli's cruelty in enforcing the practice, including the abduction of brides from church following wedding ceremonies, became part of his enduring legend. Although the historicity and legal basis of this alleged right remain unverified, the episode has been cited in regional accounts as a curious example of feudal excess in
southern Italy.
Netherlands The ("Acts of the Saints"), published from 1643 onwards, mentions the in the hagiographies of St Margaret and
St Forannan.
Scotland , the first historian to record the , in 1527. In 1527, the Scottish historian
Hector Boece wrote that the "right" had existed in Scotland until abolished by
Malcolm III ( 1058–93) under the influence of his wife, Margaret (later
St Margaret of Scotland). The payment of
merchet was instituted in its place. Boece attributed the law to
a legendary king, Ewen or Evenus III. The modern French scholar Alain Boureau says that Boece probably invented King Ewen, but he views this as mythology, not as a polemic against medieval barbarism. Other Scottish scholars of his era quoted Boece with approval, including
John Lesley (1578),
George Buchanan (1582), and Habbakuk Bisset (1626). The historical existence of the custom in Scotland was also accepted in Scottish legal works such as
James Balfour's
Practicks (),
John Skene's (1597), and
Thomas Craig's (1603). The English scholar
Henry Spelman stated in his
Glossary (1664) that the custom had existed in Scotland, but not in England. The English jurist
William Blackstone cited Boece's statement in his
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), while similarly noting that the custom had never existed in England. In 1776, the Scottish jurist
David Dalrymple disputed the existence of the custom, arguing Boece's account was purely legendary, but his position was often seen as based on
Scottish patriotism. However, according to the Scottish legal scholar
David Maxwell Walker, instances have been recorded of the being claimed up to the 18th century. Walker concluded that it is possible that the existed as a custom in Scotland, dependent on the attitude of the king, and survived longer in remote regions. After their travels in Scotland in 1773,
Samuel Johnson and
James Boswell documented the custom of the payment of merchet, linking it with the "right of first night". They paralleled it with that custom of
Borough English, suggesting that the
English custom favored the youngest son because the paternity of the eldest son was doubtful. Sir
Walter Scott mentioned the custom in his historical Scottish novel,
The Fair Maid of Perth (1828).
Spain The Spanish novel ("The Travails of Persiles and Sigismunda", 1617) by
Miguel de Cervantes contains an episode where a bride and groom escape a barbaric marriage custom in Ireland. According to the British scholar W.D. Howarth, Cervantes was inspired by Peruvian marriage ceremonies and what is described is different from the classic version of the as it involves multiple virgins. However, Cervantes' story was a source for the English play
The Custom of the Country, written by
John Fletcher and
Philip Massinger and published in 1647. The play has the classic version of the "right of first night" with money payment as an alternative. According to Howarth, this suggests that was a familiar notion to people at that time, which he traces back to Boece.
Africa In modern times,
Zaire's president
Mobutu Sese Seko appropriated the when traveling around the country, where local chiefs offered him virgins.
North America The term has also been used to describe the sexual exploitation of
slaves in the United States.
Asia As late as the 19th century, some
Kurdish chieftains in
Anatolia raped
Armenian brides on their wedding night (part of what was then known as the or system).
Oceania In the
Hawaiian Islands, the privilege for
chiefs was often observed, according to "''Sexual Behavior in Pre Contact Hawai'i''" by
Milton Diamond. A young girl's parents viewed the coupling with favor. This is because the girl might conceive the chief's child and be allowed to keep it. ==Debate in the 19th and 20th centuries==