The Evolution of the Legal Institution of Marriage in Roman Law

ABSTRACT: Marriage was the union performed with the intention to establishing a family. Among the Romans, the family was stronger than the state. This explains the fact that they took measures, including of a legal nature, to protect marriage and, implicitly, the family. These measures had become necessary towards the end of the Republic, when Oriental-type morals had penetrated Rome. These had changed the mentality of women, who no longer wanted to come under the power of their husbands and who had begun to live in simple de facto unions. In order to save the family, Roman jurists consecrated the legal institution of marriage without manus. According to it, the woman no longer fell under the power of her husband, but remained under the patria potestas of the pater familias of the family of origin. Over time, as the Romans gained social and legal experience, they paid even more attention to this legal institution because civil marriage became an important tool in achieving the Romanization process.

KEYWORDS: marriage with manus, marriage without manus, confarreatio, usus, coemptio, connubium, affectio maritalis