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The pater familias, also written as paterfamilias (pl.: patres familias), [1] was the head of a Roman family. [2] The pater familias was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his extended family. The term is Latin for "father of the family
paterfamilias: father of the family The head of household, for purposes of considering the rights and responsibilities thereof. (Civil law) bonus paterfamilias: a standard of care equivalent to the common law ordinary reasonable man. Other degrees of care are: diligens paterfamilias - higher standard of care, greater diligence;
The Latin word adoptio refers broadly to "adoption", which was of two kinds: the transferral of potestas over a free person from one head of household to another; and adrogatio, when the adoptee had been acting sui iuris as a legal adult but assumed the status of unemancipated son for purposes of inheritance.
Ancient Romans placed the father at the head of the family. One definition of the term familia translates to, "the group of people who descend from the same pater," where pater means "father". [2]: 17 From this definition, a father and all his children are part of his familia, as are the children of his sons.
In Roman law, status describes a person's legal status. The individual could be a Roman citizen (status civitatis), unlike foreigners; or he could be free (status libertatis), unlike slaves; or he could have a certain position in a Roman family (status familiae) either as head of the family (pater familias), or as a lower member (filii familias).
In Roman law, the term bonus pater familias ("good family father") refers to a standard of care, analogous to that of the reasonable man in the common law. [1] In Spanish law, the term used is a direct translation ("un buen padre de familia"), and used in the Spanish Código Civil. [2] It is also used in Latin American countries. [3]
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Traditionally, patrician refers to members of the upper class, while plebeian refers to lower class. [2] Economic differentiation saw a small number of families accumulate most of the wealth in Rome, thus giving way to the creation of the patrician and plebeian classes. [2]