Manus ( ; ) was an Ancient Roman type of marriage,[Jane F. Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society, First Midland Book Edition, 1991, 11] of which there were two forms: cum manu and sine manu.[Marcia L. Colish, The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages, Brill Academic Publishers, 1990, 2 Edition, 383]
In both cum manu and sine manu marriages, if both the husband and wife were alieni iuris (persons under patria potestas; that is, under the power of their respective pater familias), the marriage could only take place with the approval of both patres familias.
Initially, cum manu was the sole form of marriage, but eventually only sine manu marriage was widely practiced.[Rena Van den Bergh, "The Role of Education in the Social and Legal Position of Women in Roman Society", 11]
Cum manu
In a
cum manu union, the wife was released from the control of her father and became a member of her husband's family,
standing thereafter under
potestas of her husband or her father-in-law.
[Judith P. Hallett and Thoman Van Nortwick, Compromising Traditions, Routledge, 1997, 34] Legally
Adoption by her husband,
she received the same entitlements as other children in the family over matters of intestate succession
and
inheritance thereafter not from her father but from her husband.
However, the power he held over her was limited in comparison to that which he held over his own daughter;
he lacked for example, the legal right of life and death, and
noxal surrender or
sales over her.
This change of status, known as
capitis diminutio minima,
[Susan Treggiari, Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges, Oxford University Press, 1993, 28] conferred on the wife the title of
Mater familias.
The wife in a cum manu marriage held no proprietary capacity, meaning she could not own any property.
A widowed or divorced woman became sui iuris.[Jane F. Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society, First Midland Book Edition, 1991, 12]
Cum manu was procured in one of three ways: confarreatio, coemptio and usus.
Confarreatio
The ritual of
confarreatio, a kind of
sacrifice made to Jupiter,
[Judith Evans Grubbs, Women and the law in the Roman Empire: a sourcebook on marriage, divorce and widowhood, 2002 by Routledge, 22] was available only to patricians.
During this
ritual, the
bride and
bridegroom shared a bread made of
emmer (
farreus) (hence, the term
confarreatio translates to "sharing of emmer bread"), a process that required the presence of ten
witnesses and the recital of ceremonial
sacred verses.
of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were required to be born from confarreatio unions.[Susan Treggiari, Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges, Oxford University Press, 1993, 23] In order to revive the practice of confarreatio, it was amended such that the wife of a Flamen Dialis fell under the control of her husband only during rituals and was otherwise as autonomous as other women.[Susan Treggiari, Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges, Oxford University Press, 1993, 24]
Coemptio
The matrimonial process of
coemptio, in essence a
Legal fiction sale of the woman to the husband,
could be transacted at any point during the marriage.
The transaction was conducted by a
Weighing scale-holder in the presence of at least five
witnesses, all of whom were adult male
.
could be contracted not only with a husband ("for the sake of marriage"), but also with an outsider ("for the sake of trust").
A wife who had become
cum manu through the process of
coemptio was emancipated upon divorce.
By the 2nd century AD, a wife could compel her husband to emancipate her, a right not shared by her children.
was presumably a rare practice even during the 2nd century BC.
Usus
A
cum manu acquired by
usus was simply the
cohabitation of the husband and wife for the duration of a year,
after which
ownership of the wife was transferred to her partner and she was considered taken by the
decree of yearly possession. This process required no
ceremonial practices.
[Jane F. Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society, First Midland Book Edition, 1991, 13]
If the woman was not willing to come under the ownership of her husband, she could avoid manus by absenting herself for the total of three days and three nights before the end of each year.
The law of usus was eventually repealed, presumably because the practice had fallen out of use.
Sine manu
In a
sine manu union, the wife legally and ritually remained a member of her father's family, standing under the control of her father's
potestas.
A
sine manu marriage did not change the legal status of the bride with respect to property rights.
[John Peradotto and J.P. Sullivan, Women in the Ancient World: The Arethus Papers, State University of New York Press, 1984, 243] In other words, the
bride is not under control of the husband.
[John William Smith, John Innes Clark Hare, Horace Binny Wallace, John William Wallace, A selection of leading cases, on various branches of the law Law Booksellers and Publishers, 1855, Volume 2, 409] This form of marriage was not solemnized with ceremonial formalities, although it was customary for the bride to be escorted to her bridegroom's house, but rather involved a husband and wife living together with the intention of marriage under
Roman law.
The children of this union were legally members of the husband's
agnatic Kinship.
[Susan Treggiari, Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges, Oxford University Press, 1993, 32] They held no legal connection with the mother's
Pater familias and could not make claims on her
Intestacy.
It was only when the woman's paterfamilias died that she became sui iuris.[Judith Evans Grubbs, Women and the law in the Roman Empire: a sourcebook on marriage, divorce and widowhood, 2002 by Routledge, 21]
Various factors may have led to the extinction of cum manu and the predominance of sine manu during the Roman Republic. Women faced with the loss of property when entering a cum manu marriage began to only consent to sine manu unions.
See also
