WOMEN'S RIGHTS UNDER ROMAN LAW, FROM AUGUSTUS TO JUSTINIAN--27 B.C. TO
527 A.D.


[Sidenote: Guardianship.]

The age of legal capability for the Roman woman was after the twelfth
year, at which period she was permitted to make a will.[1] However, she
was by no means allowed to do so entirely on her own account, but only
under supervision.[2] This superintendence was vested in the father or,
if he was dead, in a guardian[3]; if the woman was married, the power
belonged to the husband. The consent of such supervision, whether of
father, husband, or guardian, was essential, as Ulpian informs us,[4]
under these circumstances: if the woman entered into any legal action,
obligation, or civil contract; if she wished her freedwoman to cohabit
with another's slave; if she desired to free a slave; if she sold any
things _mancipi_, that is, such as estates on Italian soil, houses,
rights of road or aqueduct, slaves, and beasts of burden. Throughout her
life a woman was supposed to remain absolutely under the power[5] of
father, husband, or guardian, and to do nothing without their consent.
In ancient times, indeed, this authority was so great that the father
and husband could, after calling a family council, put the woman to
death without public trial.[6] The reason that women were so subjected
to guardianship was "on account of their unsteadiness of character,"[7]
"the weakness of the sex," and their "ignorance of legal matters."[8]
Under certain circumstances, however, women became _sui iuris_ or
entirely independent: I. By the birth of three children (a freedwoman by
four)[9]; II. By becoming a Vestal Virgin, of whom there were but
six[10]; III. By a formal emancipation, which took place rarely, and
then often only with a view of transferring the power from one guardian