Restraints on Manumission

There seems to have been originally no restraint upon the power of a master to free his slaves, but by the lex Aelia Sentia, enacted A. D. 4, certain restraints were imposed. The objects of this law seem to have been to protect the public against the creation of un- desirable citizens, to prevent fraud on creditors, and to protect the master against improvident manumissions.

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Marriage with Manus - Strict Marriage

In a strict sense, marriage with manus was originally the only type of marriage to receive full recognition in Roman law, the free marriage not being' attended with all the legal consequences of marriage with m-anits. In time, however, as we shall see, in Roman law, as in English law, some of the most striking consequences of marriage become obsolete, and finally the strict form of marriage disappeared and was superseded by the free marriage and the doctrine of manus became obsolete.
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Capacity to Marry - Absolute Disqualification

Certain persons were absolutely disqualified by the Roman law to marry. They were : Slaves. These could not marry, but they could enter into a union known as confubernium, which was practically the same as marriage, though without legal force. Persons under the age of puberty (fourteen years for males and twelve for females). But if a girl married under age remained with her husband until she became of age (twelve), she became his legal wife. Persons already married. Polygamy was never lawful among the Romans. But a person whose husband or wife had been five years in captivity could marry again without dissolving the first marriage. A woman prosecuted for adultery could not marry unless she was acquitted or the prosecution was abandoned. If convicted she could not marry. A female slave manumitted by her master for the purpose of marrying him, could not marry anyone but him, unless he gave her up. If she refused him, she could not marry another, even with his con...
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Special Cases of Slavery Arising under the Jus Civile

These were all cases in which a person lost his liberty as a punishment for crime or other wrong doing. A Roman citizen who, for the purpose of avoiding military service, failed to have himself enrolled on the census, thereby lost his liberty. As the census ceased under the Empire, this case was obsolete in the time of Justinian. Under the XII Tables a thief taken in the act might be adjudged to belong to the person from whom he stole. (Gaius, 3, 189). This case was rendered obsolete by the substitution by the praetor of the penalty of fourfold restitution. By the XII Tables an insolvent debtor might be sold into slavery. By the Senatus Consultum Claudianum a free woman who had repeated intercourse with a slave might be made the slave of his master. This was abolished by Justinian (Inst. III, 12, 1). A person condemned for crime to the mines or to fight with wild beasts were regarded as slaves of punishment {servi poena), having no other master. The infliction of slavery as...
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