Being a Roman Citizen Quotes

“in early Rome and for much of the Republic, women were commonly married with manus; that is, they passed from the power of their fathers into that of their husbands (who certainly could not be held liable for obligations contracted while a woman was under another’s power), or even, if unmarried at their fathers’ death, became briefly sui iuris and then passed into power again; remarriage of widows was also regular.”
― Jane F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen

“Daughters, who had no part in military service of the state, were not included. However, women sui iuris had not the franchise either, since they were not heads of household in the fullest sense, having no potestas over children, and over property a potestas that was limited by restraints, originally far-reaching, over their ability of control and disposal (details in Gardner 1986:14–22). They were ‘heads of household’ only in a very limited sense. Restraints on women’s legal capacity will be discussed in the next chapter.”
― Jane F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen

“Pomponius’ revealing choice of words (D. 1.6.9.1): ‘In public matters, the son in power is regarded as equivalent to a paterfamilias.’ The Romans knew perfectly well that a magistrate with a living father was not really a paterfamilias. This resort to a legal fiction to justify his exercise of authority seems to reveal an underlying, probably ancient, concept of citizenship in which the citizens, in the fullest sense of the word, were those who alone were entitled to transact independently and on a basis of equality in matters both public and private with other citizens—in other words, the patres, heads of household.”
― Jane F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen

“There are a few texts, the earliest no earlier than the late second century AD, in which Roman jurists attempt to assign reasons for the accepted public incapacities of women, but these ‘reasons’ amount to no more than an assertion of the existing state of affairs. Thus Paul states (D. 5.1.12.2): Not everyone is eligible to be appointed to judge lawsuits by those (i.e. praetors or provincial magistrates) who have the authority to appoint judges. Some are barred from being judges by law, some by nature, some by custom (moribus). By nature— e.g. the deaf and dumb; also the incurably insane and the underage, since they lack judgment. By law— someone who has been expelled from the senate. By custom —women and slaves, not because they do not have judgment, but because it is received practice (receptum est) that they do not perform civil functions.”
― Jane F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen