Women and the Law in the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Widowhood

by Evans Grubbs,Judith

• ISBN13: 9780415152402
• ISBN10: 0415152402
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-02
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

It is widely recognized that Roman law is an important source of information about women in the Roman world, and can present a more rounded and accurate picture than literary sources. This sourcebook fully exploits the rich legal material of the imperial period - from Augustus (31 BCE - 14 CE) to the end of the western Roman Empire (476 CE), incorporating both pagan and Christian eras, and explaining the rights women held under Roman law, the restrictions to which they were subject, and legal regulations on marriage, divorce and widowhood. The main focus is on the major legal texts (the Digest, the Institutes of Gaius, the Code of Justinian and the Theodosian Code), but a significant number of non-legal documentary sources are included. These are particularly important as they illustrate how the law worked in practice, and how this practice (particularly in the provinces) could differ from the letter of the law. Accessible English translations are enhanced by clear, concise background material, which includesuseful explanation of historical and geographical context, and a helpful glossary of Roman legal and administrative terms completes the volume. Comprehensive and user-friendly, this will be a core text for students, an illuminating aid for non-specialists, and an essential reference guide for more advanced scholars

Author Biography

Judith Evans Grubbs is Professor of Classical Studies at Sweet Briar College.

Table of Contents

Preface. A sourcebook on women and the law in the Roman Empire: marriage, divorce, and widowhood	xi
List of abbreviations	xv
Glossary of Latin legal terms	xvii
Acknowledgments	xxiii
Introduction: historical and legal background	1	(1)
The legal sources	1	(5)
The sources of classical law	1	(3)
Sources of late Roman law	4	(2)
Roman social structure and the legal system	6	(7)
Timetable of important events and laws	13	(3)
The status of women in Roman law	16	(65)
Definitions	16	(4)
Gender and inclusiveness	16	(1)
Women in the family	17	(3)
Forms of legal power	20	(3)
Patria potestas (``paternal power'')	20	(1)
Manus (marital subordination)	21	(2)
Tutela impuberum (guardianship of minors)	23	(1)
Tutela mulierum (the guardianship of women)	23	(23)
Legal sources on tutela mulierum	24	(1)
The Institutes of Gaius on tutela mulierum	25	(4)
Selections from the Rules of Ulpian 11	29	(1)
The Flavian Municipal Law (lex Irnitana)	30	(1)
Tutela mulierum in non-legal sources	31	(3)
The guardianship of women in the Roman East	34	(3)
The ius liberorum	37	(6)
Tutela mulierum in late antiquity	43	(3)
Legal stereotypes of women's abilities and behavior	46	(14)
Legal assistance for women	47	(1)
Women's modesty and the need for protection	48	(3)
``Womanly weakness''	51	(1)
``Womanly weakness'' in Roman legal sources	51	(1)
``Womanly weakness'' in the papyri	52	(3)
The senatusconsultum Velleianum	55	(5)
Women in court: restrictions and rights	60	(11)
A Restrictions on women's right to act legally	60	(1)
Prohibition on bringing a request on others' behalf	60	(3)
Prohibition on bringing criminal charges	63	(1)
Prohibition on being an informer to the fiscus	64	(1)
Right to act legally on behalf of oneself or one's family	65	(1)
Right to act legally in civil cases	65	(1)
Right to bring criminal charges	66	(2)
Right to bring an action over a family member's freedom	68	(1)
Right to bring an action for the public welfare	69	(1)
A sister seeks to avenge her brother's murder	69	(1)
Women as defendants or witnesses	70	(1)
Women in public life: restrictions and responsibilities	71	(10)
The importance of status	71	(3)
Prohibitions on holding public office	74	(1)
Wealthy women and munera	74	(7)
Marriage in Roman law and society	81	(55)
Marriage and its consequences in classical Roman law	81	(21)
The purpose and nature of marriage	81	(1)
What is marriage?	81	(1)
What makes a marriage valid?	82	(1)
The Augustan marriage legislation	83	(5)
Preliminaries to marriage: age, betrothal, and consent	88	(1)
Age	88	(1)
Betrothal	88	(1)
Consent	89	(2)
Dowry	91	(1)
Dotal pacts and the purpose of dowry	91	(1)
Providing a dowry	92	(3)
The dowry during marriage	95	(2)
Recovery of dowry after marriage	97	(1)
Gifts between spouses and a married woman's property	98	(1)
The ban on gifts between husband and wife	98	(3)
Women's property within marriage	101	(1)
Marriage and its consequences in late Roman law	102	(20)
Repeal of the Augustan penalties on celibacy	103	(1)
Paternal power and consent to marriage	104	(6)
Pre-nuptial gifts, arrhae sponsaliciae, and dowry	110	(12)
Marriage contracts from Egypt and the Near East	122	(14)
A Marriage contracts from Roman Egypt	122	(1)
A synkhoresis from Alexandria	123	(2)
Abstract of an alimentary contract from Tebtunis	125	(1)
A Latin marriage contract	126	(1)
A mother gives her daughter in marriage	127	(2)
The marriage of two embalmers	129	(1)
A husband moves in with his wife and her father	129	(2)
Marriage agreement from the ``Cave of Letters''	131	(2)
Marriage contract from Dura Europos	133	(3)
Prohibited and non-legal unions	136	(51)
Prohibited and non-marital unions in classical law	136	(25)
Prohibitions based on kinship	136	(1)
Parent-child and sibling marriage	136	(1)
Uncle-niece and aunt-nephew marriage	137	(1)
Former slaves and incestuous marriage	138	(1)
Legal consequences of incestuous marriage	139	(1)
Diocletian's edict against close-kin marriage	140	(3)
Non-marital unions based on social status	143	(1)
Slave unions and slave-free unions	143	(2)
The senatusconsultum Claudianum	145	(1)
Unions between women and their freedmen	146	(2)
Unions between senators and former slaves	148	(2)
Concubinatus (concubinage)	150	(4)
Other prohibitions	154	(1)
Unions between citizens and non-citizens	154	(2)
Marriage between tutor and pupilla	156	(1)
Marriage between imperial officials and locals	157	(1)
Marriage of soldiers while in service	158	(2)
Marriage to two women simultaneously	160	(1)
Prohibited and non-marital unions in late antiquity	161	(26)
Prohibitions based on kinship	161	(5)
Prohibitions based on status	166	(1)
Expansion of the Augustan prohibitions	166	(4)
Concubines	170	(3)
Free men and slave women	173	(3)
Free women and slave men	176	(5)
Forced marriages	181	(3)
Other prohibitions	184	(3)
Divorce and its consequences	187	(32)
Divorce in classical law	187	(15)
Definition and causes of divorce	187	(2)
Sending a notice of divorce	189	(2)
Return of dowry after divorce	191	(1)
Freedwomen and divorce	192	(3)
Divorce and patria potestas	195	(1)
A father's right co break up his child's marriage	195	(3)
Children after divorce	198	(4)
Divorce in late Roman law	202	(8)
Divorce in Egypt and the Near East	210	(9)
A Divorce documents from Roman Egypt	210	(1)
A synkhoresis from Alexandria	211	(1)
A wife's complaint	212	(1)
A divorce agreement from Tebtunis	212	(1)
A grave-digger's divorce	213	(1)
A late fourth-century divorce agreement	214	(1)
A mother's complaint against her son-in-law	215	(2)
A divorce from Dura Europos	217	(2)
Widows and their children	219	(51)
Remarriage in Roman law	220	(16)
Legally imposed delays on remarriage	220	(3)
Remarriage and inheritance	223	(13)
Widows and the guardianship of fatherless children	236	(25)
A Mothers and tutela (guardianship) in Roman law	236	(1)
The obligation to request a guardian	236	(4)
Guarding the guardians	240	(2)
Mothers as guardians	242	(6)
Mothers and guardians in the Greek East	248	(1)
Appointment of guardians	248	(2)
A mother brings suit against her son's guardians	250	(4)
Mothers as guardians	254	(3)
A guardian mother defends her children's interests	257	(4)
Pregnant widows	261	(9)
Surveillance of pregnant widows	261	(3)
Inheritance rights and the supposititious child	264	(3)
Pregnant widows in the papyri	267	(3)
Summation. The condition of women: rights and restrictions	270	(2)
Notes	272	(55)
Bibliography	327	(10)
Index of Sources	337	(6)
General Index	343