Early Roman Society The Roman family
The cornerstone of Roman society was the household (familia), a closely knit unit characterised by its social and economic cohesion. The Roman family was organised on a strictly patriarchal basis - something common to all peoples of Indo-European descent.
The head of the family (pater familias) had absolute control over all persons and all property within his household. Under his control (patria potestas) came his lawful wife (cum manu),1 all his legitimate male children, married or unmarried (filii familias), his daughters-in-law and their children {nepotes), his unmarried daughters (filiae familias) and any adopted children he may have had.[111] The authority of the pater familias extended to all his descendants, however remote, such as his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Moreover, the pater familias was the only person within the family capable of holding rights under private law. A person under paternal control {in potestate patris) could not, for example, acquire or convey property or incur debts without his father's consent.color=black face="Times New Roman">The head of the family was also in charge of the religious observances within his household and, as a judge, he inflicted punishments for breaches of family discipline. Although his partia potestas gave him the power of life and death {ius vitae et necis) over his wife, children and slaves (he could, without breaching any law, imprison a child, sell him as a slave or even put him to death), in practice this power was limited by custom, religion and public opinion. Thus, in cases involving serious violations of customary norms the pater familias was required by custom to put the matter before a domestic court {consilium familiae) which was composed of the nearest relatives of the family.
Since Roman respect for public opinion was always great, it is probably unlikely that a pater familias would have often disregarded the judgement of a family council, although he was not strictly bound by it. In later years the pater familias' power of life and death over his family members gradually fell into abeyance and during the republican period the arbitrary killing of a child by his father, although not strictly forbidden by law, came to be regarded as an 'abhorrent' act.[112]No matter how old a person was, he remained under the control of his pater familias until the latter died or his patria potestas was extinguished in one of the legally prescribed ways. Release from the patria potestas was usually effected through the formal method of emancipatio\ a son was freed from paternal control and became master of his own affairs {sui iuris) following his fictitious sale by the pater familias. The patria potestas could also be terminated in a number of other ways such as, for example, when the pater familias was deprived of the Roman citizenship {capitis deminutio), when a daughter passed into the control of her husband following a formal marriage and when a son or daughter assumed certain religious positions.
More on the topic Early Roman Society The Roman family:
- The Roman family constituted the basic structural framework of Roman society.
- On the Roman family, see Hodge, P. (1974), Roman Family Life, London: Longman; Dixon, S. (1992),
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