Pater familias
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The pater familias (plural: patres familias) was the father of a Roman family. The term is Latin for "father of the family". The form is irregular and archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in -as (see Latin declension). The pater familias held supreme authority over his children.
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[edit] Patria potestas
The pater familias had vitae necisque potestas - the "power of life and death" - over his children, his wife (in some cases), and his slaves, all of whom were said to be sub manu, "under his hand". If a child was deformed, under the laws of the Twelve Tables the pater familias was required to have the child put to death by exposure.
He had the power to sell his children into slavery; Roman law provided, however, that if a child has been sold as a slave three times, he is no longer subject to the patria potestas. The pater familias had the power to approve or reject marriages of his sons and daughters; however, an edict of the Emperor Caesar Augustus provided that the pater familias could not withhold that permission lightly.
One should notice that the pater's children, the filii familias, could be other than biological offspring, such as brothers, nephews or adoptive sons and daughters. In Ancient Rome, the family household was, therefore, conceived as an economical and juridical unit subordinated to a single person, with a great deal of authority (the potestas and auctoritas) over all its members - in fact, the Latin word familia (which is the etymological origin for the English word "family"), originally meant the group of the famuli (servi or serfs and slaves) living under the same roof. And the familia was considered the basic social unit, more primordial, for instance, than the gens (clan, caste, or group of families).
Besides being a chief, the pater familias was the only person endowed with legal capacity, or sui iuris. Women (in most but not all cases), the filii, slaves and foreigners had a capitis deminutio (literally, a "diminished head", meaning diminished capacity), that is, they could not celebrate valid contracts, nor did they possess, by rule, personal property. All assets and contracts belonged, in principle, to the pater.
Because of their extended rights (their longa manus, literally "long hand"), the patres familias also had a series of extra duties: duties towards the women, the filii and the slaves (though some of these duties were not recognized by the original ius civile, but only by the ius gentium, specially directed to foreigners, or by the ius honorarium, the law of the Magistratus, specially the Praetor, which emerges in a latter period of Roman law).
Only a Roman citizen, someone with status civitatis, could enjoy the status of pater familias. There could only be one holder of the office within a household. Even male adult filii remained under the authority of their pater while he still lived, and could not acquire the rights of a pater familias while he was yet alive; at least in legal theory, all their property was acquired on behalf of their father, and he, not they, had ultimate authority to dispose of it. Those who lived in their own households at the time of the pater's death succeeded to the status of pater familias over their respective households (pater familias sui iuris), even if they were only in their teens. Women were always under the control (sub manu) of a pater familias, either their original pater, or the pater of their husband's family once married (which could be her husband or not).
Over time, the absolute authority of the pater familias weakened, and rights that theoretically existed were no longer enforced or insisted upon. The power over life and death was abolished, the right of punishment was moderated, and the sale of children was restricted to cases of extreme necessity.
Though such wide legal power never existed in modern societies, the term "Pater familias" in its literal meaning, "Father of The Family", has often been used.
[edit] Paterfamilias in English
Paterfamilias is also an English word, derived from the Latin expression, with specific meanings. The definitions given by Merriam-Webster are:[1]
- the male head of a household;
- the father of a family;
- a man who originates or is a leading figure in something (as a movement, discipline, or enterprise).
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- George Long, "Patria Potestas", in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities London, John Murray, 1875, pp. 873‑875.
- "Roman Law", in Catholic Encyclopedia New York, Robert Appleton, 1913.
- Olga Tellegen-Couper, "A Short History of Roman Law".
