Constantine’s legislation on family and marriage
Constantine probably influenced Roman family law more than any other emperor after Augustus. Some of his laws on marriage and family matters were probably based on Christian motivations and values, such as the new laws removing penalties for celibacy and childlessness (C.Th.
8.16.1), drastically restricting unilateral divorce (C.Th. 3.16.1), rejecting the sale and abandonment of children (C.Th. 5.9.1), and regulating alimentary law (C.Th. 11.27.1-2). Even so, Constantinian legislation on family and marriage tried to preserve the traditional distinction between the freeborn and those born as slaves. For instance, Constantine extended the Augustan prohibition on marriage between senators and freedwomen, to exclude as well the marriages of local and provincial magistrates with former female slaves or other women of low status.
More on the topic Constantine’s legislation on family and marriage:
- Justinian’s legislation on marriage
- Augustan legislation on marriage
- On the Roman family, see Hodge, P. (1974), Roman Family Life, London: Longman; Dixon, S. (1992),
- The law of donation under Constantine
- The reign of Constantine the Great
- Excursion: Constantine’s Prohibition of Forfeiture Clauses
- Family Relationship
- CHAPTER IV FAMILY AND SUCCESSION
- Marriage
- Marriage
- 5 2 Marriage and divorce
- 4. MARRIAGE
- Dissolution of Marriage
- Marriage in Rome was not a simple institution.
- The Roman Family