Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

conceived) within marriage legitimate. This in turn meant that the children inherited their father’s Roman citizenship and gained qualified rights to inherit his property (Chapter 15). It also meant that they were subject to his patria potestas until his death. Children born outside a Roman marriage took their mother’s citizenship (with certain exceptions), and their inheri tance claims were limited on her estate and nonexistent on his. Their father did not have patria potestas over them. In fact, the law recognized no ties between illegitimate children and their biological fathers except to forbid them from marrying. Marriage also served to legitimize sexual behavior. Broadly speaking, Roman law forbade sex between unmarried per sons unless the female partner was a prostitute or member of another officially disreputable class. Conversely, Imperial law penalized citizens of reproductive age who remained celibate for too long, and marriage was a way to avoid these penalties. (Those with enough children were exempt from staying mar ried and were offered other small rewards.) Marriage also had effects, if limited ones, on property. Gifts between husband and wife were illegal (Chapter 16). When a marriage ended, it triggered the return of the dowry. As noted earlier (Chapters 10, 16), marriage did not give a husband control over his wife’s property. Nor did the Romans recognize more egalitarian forms of “community property,” nor did either spouse acquire any of the other’s obligations. Two spouses could co-own property in exactly the same way as could any two unrelated people (Chapter 13), but their marriage (or divorce) had no effect on the joint ownership. Neither party could exercise anything like

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