Emancipatio
The formal liberation of a son from the control (
manus) of his father.
If the son were sold three times over all the rights of his father came to an end. If then a
father wished to make a son his own master (
sui iuris), he made him over
three times by
mancipatio or a fictitious sale to a third person. The
third person emancipated him the first and second time, so that he came again into the control
of his father. After purchasing him a third time he either emancipated him himself, and thus
became his
patronus, or he sold him back to the father, to whom he now
stood, not in the relation of a son, but
in mancipio, so that the father
could liberate him without more ado. In this case the father remained
patronus of the son. The emancipated son did not, as in the case of adoption (see
Adoptio), pass into the
patria
potestas of another, and therefore retained his father's family name; but he lost his
right to inherit in default of a will. See
Manus.