Familia
The Latin name for a household community, consisting of the master of the house (
pater familias), his wife (
mater familias), his sons and
unmarried daughters (
filii and
filiae familias), the
wives, sons, and unmarried daughters of the sons, and the slaves. All the other members of the
family were subject to the authority of the
pater familias. (For the
power of the husband over his wife, see
Manus.) In
virtue of his paternal authority (
patria potestas), the
pater familias had absolute authority over his children. He might, if he liked, expose
them, sell them, or kill them. These rights, as manners were gradually softened, were more and
more rarely enforced; but they legally came to an end only when the father died, lost his
citizenship, or of his own will freed his son from his authority. (See
Emancipatio.) They could, however, be transferred to
another person if the son were adopted, or the daughter married. A son, if of full age, was
not in any way interfered with by the
patria potestas in the exercise of
his civil rights. But in the exercise of his legal rights as an individual, he was dependent
always on his father. He could, for instance, own no property; but all that he acquired was,
in the eye of the law, at the exclusive disposal of his father. The
pater
familias alone had the right of making dispositions of the family property by mortgage,
sale, or will. See
McLennan, The Patriarchal Theory (1885).