Family and Familia in Roman Law and Life

by Gardner, Jane F.

• ISBN13: 9780198152170
• ISBN10: 0198152175
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-07-09
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

Roman families were infinitely diverse, but the basis of Roman civil law was the familia, a strictly-defined group consisting of a head, paterfamilias, and his descendants in the male line. Recent work on the Roman family mainly ignores the familia, in favour of examining such matters asemotional relationships within families, the practical effects of control by a paterfamilias, and demographic factors producing families which did not fit the familia-pattern. This book investigates the interrelationship between family and familia, especially how families exploited the legal rulesfor their own ends, and disrupted the familia, by use of emancipation (release from patria potestas) and adoption. It also traces legal responses to the effects of demographic factors, which gave increased importance to maternal connections, and to social, such as the difficulties for ex-slaves inconforming to the familia-pattern. The familia as a legal institution remained virtually unchanged; nevertheless Roman family law underwent substantial changes, to meet the needs and desires of Roman society.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. v
Abbreviations	p. ix
Introduction Familia and Families	p. 1
Out of the Familia: The Practice of Emancipation	p. 6
Into the Familia: The Practice of Adoption	p. 114
Outside the Familia: Mothers and Children	p. 209
Conclusion	p. 268
Bibliography	p. 280
Index of Sources	p. 287
General Index	p. 299
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