Aspects Relating to the Family Status in the Roman Law

ABSTRACT: THe status of the family has evolved over time until it formed what we call today the basic cell of society. It is interesting to observe how in the old Roman law, for the valid start of a marriage it was required the consent of the head of family also known as pater familias and not of the future bride and groom. They had no rights of their own, the father even having the right of life and death at first. As Rome moves towards the Imperial Age, marriage also begins to take on another form and becomes from marriage cum manu (under the power of pater familias) to sine manu (where only the consent of future bride and groom was needed). KEYWORDS: status, family, marriage, Roman la