Status of Women in Roman Law
Women, regardless of their age, always have the legal status of minors under Roman law and are subject to the legal control of a male, either father, husband, or guardian, until they die
- They cannot vote in public assemblies
- They cannot command armies or receive governorships
- They cannot act as judges or serve on juries
But they also cannot be publicly tried or interrogated
- They cannot sign contracts, or rent/purchase land, shops, or dwellings on their own – this must be done by a male on their behalf
However… a woman lacking both husband and father can choose her own guardian
- Unmarried girls cannot appear in public except under severe restrictions
Married Roman women had many social freedoms granted to them by custom:
Free married women of all classes could:
- (During the times when the stola is still worn) if she wears the stola in public she is legally protected against being physically touched against her will by any man who is not her husband or relative
- Visit the Forum, festivals, banquets, circuses and theatre without her husband’s permission
- Visit friends, dine at inns, and travel without permission
- Meet her husband’s friends and business associates as their equal
- Say what she pleases and (for the most part) do what she pleases
- Shop for goods without permission
- Manage their own property, including employing their own managers to oversee their estates and/or business interests who will NOT take orders from the husbands
- Sue and be sued, and give testimony in court without her husband’s intervention
- Divorce their husbands
Roman Marriage Laws:
Three kinds of marriage in the Kingdom and Republic periods: “confarreatio” – the legal and formal kind of marriage always used by Patricians; “coemptio” – marriage by purchase, often entered into when a man purchased a female slave and married her; and “usus” – marriage by habitual cohabitation.
- In a usus marriage, a woman could avoid allowing her husband to have legal control over her by simply being absent from their shared home for 3 consecutive nights, once a year.
After the collapse of the Republic new laws were made to combat the low citizen birth-rate:
- Girls were legally allowed to marry at 12 year of age, and boys at 14, but betrothals could be arranged at any age
- All men between 25 and 60 years of age, and all women between 20 and 50, were required by law to marry and have children or pay extra taxes in proportion to their wealth and property
- Roman citizens who had already produced at least 3 children, and freed persons who had produced at least 4, were exempt
- Marriage between Senators and freed women, or slaves and citizens, were declared legally void – all children from such unions were illegitimate, non-citizens, and not able to inherit
- Widows were allowed one year to remarry after the death of her husband, and divorced women were required to remarry within six months. This was later extended to a period of two years for widows, and 18 months for divorcees
- These laws were eventually all repealed by Constantine and later emperors (early 4th century)
Roman Divorce Laws:
- The first divorce mentioned in Roman history was in 231 BCE
- Divorce became common in the Republic & Empire
- No court proceedings necessary:
- A married woman had the right to divorce her husband
- Simply formally say “Take away your property!” in front of witnesses, or send a delegation of witnesses to deliver the decree
- Emperor Augustus tried to make the process less prompt and convenient, but failed
- Divorce carried no stigma – Some women are described as “Flitting from one home to another, wearing out the bridal veil” or having “eight husbands in five autumns.”
- As long as the wife is faithful to her husband, he does not have the right under Roman Law to complain about her behavior…
- However, unfaithful wives can face prosecution and be stripped of their rights – including the right to wear the clothing of a respectable wife, and could be forced to wear the toga.
- A woman convicted of adultery could be exiled and/or executed.
Go to MOECHA vs. MERETRIX (Adultresses vs. Whores)