Roman Pater Familias

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The limitations placed on patria potestas were generally very lax, except when it came to life or death. Whether it is the potential to create new life from a marriage or to end one, it was here that the Roman government drew the line of the power the patriarch could wield. In marriage the father can prevent a union and even sometimes dissolve one, but it is at the dissolution of a viable marriage that Rome can step in; to protect the union and the possible offspring sired from it. In death, the pater familias must follow a subset of rules to kill one the members under his power.
Patria potestas wielded a lot of power in roman life. In marriages specifically the pater familias had control of who would marry whom, almost no union could take …show more content…

For example their rules that had to be followed when murdering a daughter for committing adultery, Ulpian in case 96 says that in order for him to kill her the father must also kill the daughters lover, immediately. Only by doing both can the father get away with his actions. These laws were probably created to stop men from scheming and using adultery as an excuse to kill political or business rivals. Another contingency is that he must catch her and her lover in his own house; both of these rules seem to attempt to stop false accusations of adultery that could benefit the father. In another scenario for a father to be able to kill his son he first must summon senators to a consillium and put his case before them to receive permission to kill his son. The example given by Valerius Maximus in case 90 is that the son is planning with the fathers wife to kill him, by doing this and gaining permission his filicide is legal. The senate and their ability to refuse his plea and not allow him to murder his son limit his paternal power. This is where the law steps in to try and prevent unjust deaths.
The power of the father could only be wielded so far; Roman laws prevented him from interfering in matters of life and death. Whether it was the union of two people, which would hopefully result in life, or the death of others, the government made sure to step in and intervene before

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