"All the wrongs you cite are genuine"

Wiki says: "The first known usage of the phrase "rule of thumb" in direct reference to domestic violence was in 1976, in the book Battered Wives by Del Martin."

One Andy Kelly, a UCLA prof. who apparently wrote an article on the subject for the Journal of Legal Education in 1994, says on WMSTN-L (blue clicky
):

"As far as I have seen, "rule of thumb" was first associated with
wife-beating by Del Martin in 1976, but she was being whimsical (a
point that Sommers fails to make). It was seriously associated with
wife-beating by Terry Davidson in 1977, completely without
historical foundatio; and authors who cited Davidson jumped to the
conclusion that the alleged common law of rule of thumb gave rise to
the expression (N.B. I would be grateful if anyone can find
earlier associations of "rule of thumb" with wife-beating)."