A decorative horizontal woodcut headpiece featuring symmetrical acanthus leaf scrolls and floral motifs.

CONCERNING PRIVATE LAW, OF THE

Laws of the XII. Tables.

From Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 2.

THAT WHOEVER WAS BORN OF A FATHER AND A MOTHER WHO WERE HEADS OF A FAMILY original: "paterfamilias", should be in the hand, power, and mancipation of his own head of family; and the head of family should have the right of life and death over him, and the power of selling his son three times.

BUT IF A FATHER HAS SOLD HIS SON THREE TIMES,

LET THE SON BE FREE FROM THE FATHER.

That daughters and other children should be freed by a single mancipation. That sons and daughters who were heads of families should be the heirs of their father's property.

Institutes, On paternal power, section 1.

Justinian writes: The right of power that we have over children is proper to Roman citizens; for there are no other men who have such power over their children. For (as Dionysius testifies) all other nations have set some limit to paternal power, but the Romans have extended it to the whole time of their sons' lives, even if they were conducting the affairs of the Republic and held the highest magistracies.

"Who was born of a father and mother who were heads of a family," these are to be understood as if it had been said, "Who was born of a lawful wife." For