Rights of Citizens

The Roman citizen (during the regal period called quiris, or member of a curia, but after wards simply cizns) was governed by a special law, anciently called the quiritary law, or law of the Quirites (jus Quiritium) , but later the Jus Civile or civil law. Under this law he enjoyed several distinct rights, the law relating to which made up the Jus Civile.

The most important of these rights were

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  1. the jus connubii
  2. the jus commercii
  3. the jus suffragii
  4. the jus honorum

The first two belonged to private, and the last two to public law. Citizens who enjoyed all these — for being a citizen did not necessarily in- clude the enjoyment of all — were called cives opttino jure, while those who enjoyed only the private rights were cives non Optimo jure. In early times, only the patricians were citizens in the fullest sense ; the plebeians first gained the commercium, then the connubium, and, after a long struggle, the full rights of citizenship. And not all citizens of either class, patrician or plebeian, necessarily possessed all the rights of citizenship. Thus a son under paternal power did not have the coinmerciuin, a right enjoyed only by persons sui juris. And a woman might be a Roman citizen without the capacity to vote or hold office.

Jus Connubii. The Jus Connuhii of the Roman citizen consisted in the' capacity to contract a marriage with manus, the justum iitatrinioniuui or justa nuptia of the Jus Civile, that is, a marriage by virtue of which the wife and the children of the marriage became members of the husband's household. Anciently only patricians enjoyed this capacity, the intermarriage of plebeians and patricians being expressly prohibited by the Twelve Tables, but in the year B. C. 445 the le.v Camileia conceded to the plebeians the right of intermarriage with the patricians. The children of this marriage were under the patria potestas of their father. This right was the basis of the Roman family law.

Jus Commercii. This was the right of making contracts, and of acquiring, holding, and transferring property of all kinds according to the Jus Civile. This included the property law and the law of commercial intercourse. The jus commercii was granted to the plebeians at an early day, and was the first of the civil rights granted to them.

Jus Suffragii. This was the right of voting in the popular assemblies.

Jus Honorum. This was the right of eligibility to all public offices, civil, military and sacred.

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Effects of Marriage with Manus

By the strict marriage the wife passed into the marital power of her husband {in manum viri). The manus or marital power may be regarded as a particular form of the patria potestas. An uxor in manu was a member of her husband's household. Although called a materfamilias, this term did not have a meaning corresponding to the term paterfamilias. The wife was not the head of the family. She stood legally in the position of a daughter {in loco filiafamilias) of her husband. If she had children she was regarded as a sister of her own children. The relation of husband and wife, both as regards the wife's person and her property, was governed by the same rules of law as governed the relation of father and child. The law of husband and wife may, therefore, be considered as merely a particular branch of the law of parent and child. The husband had, in general, the same power over the person of his wife in manu as the father had over his child. Anciently, it may be suppo...
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Slavery by Birth

The children of a female slave became the slaves of her master. The status of the father as free or slave was immaterial. The general rule governing the determination of the status of a child, whether as free or slave, or as citizen or alien, was as follows : Children born in lawful wedlock had the status of the father at the moment of conception, children born out of wedlock had the status of the mother at the moment of birth. Hence if the father of a child of a lawful marriage was free at the moment of conception, the child was free although the father should subsequently lose his freedom. As to children born out of wedlock, the general rule, as above stated, was that it was the status of the mother at the moment of birth that determined the status of the child. If the mother was free at the moment of conception but a slave at the moment of birth, the child was a slave, and conversely. This was the earlier law, but the rule was modified in the interest of liber...
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Mandate (Mandatum)

Mandate (mandatum) was a contract by which one person mandatarius agreed to do something gratuitously at the request of another mandator , who, on his part, agreed to save him harmless from all loss in so doing. The mandator was said to give the mandatory a mandate, or commission to do the act in question. The term mandatum is sometimes translated "agency", but this translation is misleading. The mandatory is not properly described as an agent. Mandate was the only gratuitous consensual contract; the others, sale, hiring, and partnership, all being founded upon a consideration. Like the others, it was a bona fidei negotium , and bound the parties to do all that was required by good faith. It was of the essence of the contract of mandate that the mandatory should act gratuitously. But while this was true in a strict legal sense, it was allowed to agree upon a sum to be paid as a honorium , or salary, which might be recovered only by a special action and not b...
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