登陆注册
15752600000039

第39章

On a few systems of law the family organisation of theearliest society has left a plain and broad mark in the lifelongauthority of the Father or other ancestor over the person andproperty of his descendants, an authority which we mayconveniently call by its later Roman name of Patria Potestas. Nofeature of the rudimentary associations of mankind is deposed toby a greater amount of evidence than this, and yet none seems tohave disappeared so generally and so rapidly from the usages ofadvancing communities. Gaius, writing under the Antonines,describes the institution as distinctively Roman. It is truethat, had he glanced across the Rhine or the Danube to thosetribes of barbarians which were exciting the curiosity of someamong his contemporaries, he would have seen examples ofpatriarchal power in its crudest form; and in the far East abranch of the same ethnical stock from which the Romans sprangwas repeating their Patria Potestas in some of its most technicalincidents. But among the races understood to be comprised withinthe Roman empire, Gaius could find none which exhibited aninstitution resembling the Roman "Power of the Father," exceptonly the Asiatic Galatae. There are reasons, indeed, as it seemsto me, why the direct authority of the ancestor should, in thegreater number of progressive societies, very shortly assumehumbler proportions than belonged to it in their earliest state.

The implicit obedience of rude men to their parent is doubtless aprimary fact, which it would be absurd to explain away altogetherby attributing to them any calculation of its advantages; but, atthe same time, if it is natural in the sons to obey the father,it is equally natural that they should look to him for superiorstrength or superior wisdom. Hence, when societies are placedunder circumstances which cause an especial value to be attachedto bodily and mental vigour, there is an influence at work whichtends to confine the Patria Potestas to the cases where itspossessor is actually skilful and strong. When we obtain ourfirst glimpse of organised Hellenic society, it seems as ifsupereminent wisdom would keep alive the father's power inPersons whose bodily strength had decayed; but the relations ofUlysses and Laertes in the Odyssee appear to show that, whereextraordinary valour and sagacity were united in the son, thefather in the decrepitude of age was deposed from the headship ofthe family. In the mature Greek jurisprudence, the rule advancesa few steps on the practice hinted at in the Homeric literature;and though very many traces of stringent family obligationremain, the direct authority of the parent is limited, as inEuropean codes, to the nonage or minority of the children, or, inother words, to the period during which their mental and physicalinferiority may always be presumed. The Roman law, however, withits remarkable tendency to innovate on ancient usage only just sofar as the exigency of the commonwealth may require, preservesboth the primeval institution and the natural limitation to whichI conceive it to have been subject. In every relation of life inwhich the collective community might have occasion to availitself of his wisdom and strength, for all purposes of counsel orof war, the filius familias, or Son under Power, was as free ashis father. It was a maxim of Roman jurisprudence that the PatriaPotestas did not extend to the Jus Publicum. Father and son votedtogether in the city, and fought side by side in the field;indeed, the son, as general, might happen to command the father,or, as magistrate, decide on his contracts and punish hisdelinquencies. But in all the relations created by Private Law;the son lived under a domestic despotism which, considering theseverity it retained to the last, and the number of centuriesthrough which it endured, constitutes one of the strangestproblems in legal history.

The Patria Potestas of the Romans, which is necessarily ourtype of the primeval paternal authority, is equally difficult tounderstand as an institution of civilised life, whether weconsider its incidence on the person or its effects on property.

同类推荐
  • 十二品生死经

    十二品生死经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 西湖小史

    西湖小史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 五代秘史

    五代秘史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说菩萨内习六波罗蜜经

    佛说菩萨内习六波罗蜜经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 汉学师承记

    汉学师承记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 妖气森森

    妖气森森

    南疆的盅师,诡异的道士,神秘的远古血脉,都市里纵横的大妖,跟着我的步伐,带你领略诡异壮阔的妖异生涯。。。徘徊于黑暗中太久,只会提醒自己光明的宝贵。。。
  • 酷爸萌娃:腹黑妈咪要逃婚

    酷爸萌娃:腹黑妈咪要逃婚

    苏米拉觉得自己是倒了八辈子的霉才会遇到这一大一小,大的霸道无理,小的看着软萌可爱却是个比他爸还要难搞的主…比如:大的说:“苏米拉,我没说让你走你就休想走出我的世界。”苏米拉:“爷,你都有了订婚对象了,她长的比我美,手艺比我好,还比我更会照顾你的娃,你就行行好放我走不行吗?”大的:“就算你没才没貌又没德,那也是我陌少琛的保姆。”“行,算我栽到你的手上了。”哼,你不让我走,我偷偷跑掉总可以了吧?这时小的发话了:“小米,不要在我面前想着偷偷跑掉哦,我是不会帮你瞒着老爸的。”苏米拉无奈扶额,谁能告诉告诉她,一个五岁的小屁孩是如何练就读心术的?
  • 独家专宠娇妻难养

    独家专宠娇妻难养

    他,叱咤风云,横行霸道,只要他想做的事情,没有行不通的。她,纯情贞洁,是豪门千金,却有着别人不知道的痛楚。两人的相遇造就了一场美丽的邂逅,可是当知道背后的阴谋,两人又是否能逃出命运的改变呢?这是一个蜕变的过程。是殊途同归还是各自分飞?
  • 毁灭争霸

    毁灭争霸

    这是一部魔幻题材的小说,讲述大陆上人族帝国与兽族联盟展开决战之时,一个带着死亡气息的种族驱赶着巨大的深海魔兽携毁灭之势而来,随着他们的争斗各种不可思议的种族在欲望、贪婪、仇恨的相继出现、建立,他们为了生存、力量互相战斗,就此拉开了一场充满法术、科技、恶魔、巨兽的争霸战场加入QQ群:16112336,你会知道各种奇特的种族故事
  • 傲世狂妃王爷你太逗

    傲世狂妃王爷你太逗

    穿越重生,废材逆天变天才。她陌北霓一朝穿越,爹娘不见,没事找。任人欺负,不可能。我陌北霓的字典里只有一句话:人不犯我我不犯人,人犯我必死无疑。
  • 火焰天使:原来校草是路痴

    火焰天使:原来校草是路痴

    不知道是谁说:“一个转弯都能让你们六个大校草迷路吗!”又不知道是谁说过:“怎么校草都是路痴?”呃,怎么校草都是路痴啊?啧,感觉萌萌大。十二个人,六段传奇爱恋;十二个人,不同的友情故事;十二个人,不同的血缘亲情。[绯王系列-第一名作-伊绯泳落著/简介白痴路过]
  • 武道沧桑:宋代军事训练研究

    武道沧桑:宋代军事训练研究

    本书研究了宋代之前军事训练发展概况、宋代军事训练的时代特征、宋代步兵训练、宋代骑兵训练、宋代水军训练、宋代协同作战训练等内容。
  • 魔妃太狂:势不可挡

    魔妃太狂:势不可挡

    她被人追打,误看到一妖孽出浴。俊美的五官,闭着眼斜靠在温泉旁,一头长发漂浮在水中,飘散如墨。水珠从他的面颊上滴落下来融入水中,如仙似幻。明显的锁骨、人鱼线,再往下....
  • 生化骸世

    生化骸世

    一个神秘的金属球,改变了平易人原本正常的生活,引来数方势力的博弈。当真相渐渐清晰时,一场空前的生化危机已经蓄势待发。秩序将被破坏,文明将被涂炭,因为在微生世界里,上帝创造的一切都将被颠覆。
  • 魔域行者

    魔域行者

    哀嚎和狂笑声交杂着、彼此重叠着,此起彼伏像海潮一般,形成了难以忍受却又无法抗拒的乐章,刺穿了他的耳膜,如千万根钢针牢牢扎进了他的大脑每一条沟回中,又汇成了一段段重复的话语不停冲击着他的精神:"张知远,你失败了,你辜负了他们。"他跪倒在滚烫的街道边,不停的干呕,想要从喉管里将这令人发疯的声音尽数吐出。突然间,火焰熄灭了,热量也离他而去,世界归于静寂,紧接着一个雄浑的声音在他身边响起,“这是结束,而非开始,张知远,抬起头,睁大你的双眼,寻找你该去的地方...”扭曲的世界在强烈的震动中开始分崩离析,他努力向上抬起头,却什么也没看见。无尽的黑暗从四面八方吞没了整个城市,也吞噬了他和他最后的意识...