A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3Howard, George Elliott
History
A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3
Howard, George Elliott
Families; Marriage -- History
[79] In the post-Homeric age agnation did not exist; see
BOTSFORD, _op. cit._, 73. In general on the Greek family
see HRUZA, _Ehebegründung nach attischem Rechte_,
8 ff.; MCLENNAN, _Studies_, I, 121-23, especially
the essay on "Kinship in Ancient Greece," _ibid._, 195-246
(favoring the maternal system); BOTSFORD, _op. cit._,
chaps. i, ii, iii, supporting the patriarchal theory; but Dr.
Botsford's patriarchal family is not that of Sir Henry Maine;
LASAULX, _Zur Gesch. u. Philos. der Ehe bei den
Griechen_, 3 ff.; DARGUN, _Mutterrecht und Raubehe_, 2,
3, 14; GIRAUD-TEULON, _Les origines, etc._, 286-301;
WAKE, _Marriage and Kinship_, 24 ff., 355 ff., 366 ff.,
who criticises McLennan's view in detail for the Aryan peoples;
KOVALEVSKY, _Tableau_, 35, 36; BERNHÖFT, "Das
Gesetz von Gortyn," _ZVR._, VI, 281-304, 430-40; and his "Ehe-
und Erbrecht der griechischen Heroenzeit," _ibid._, XI, 326-64,
both articles being of great value; KOHLER, "Die Ionsage
und Vaterrecht," _ibid._, V, 407-14, who proves the existence of
"judicial" fatherhood; WESTERMARCK, _Human Marriage_,
232, 233; UNGER, _Die Ehe_, 52-65; BADER, _La
femme grecque_, I, 41 ff.; II, 1 ff. See also HEARN,
_Aryan Household_, and FUSTEL DE COULANGES, _Ancient
City_, for much valuable matter.
Examination of the customs of the Celts,[80] the Slavonians,[81]
and ancient Germans[82] leads to a like result. Accordingly we are
forced to admit the accuracy of Gaius's conclusion. Writing in the
time of the Antonines, he declares his belief that the _patria
potestas_ is peculiarly a Roman institution. Only among the Asiatic
Galatæ had he observed a similar authority exercised by the father
over his children.[83] Instead of existing "almost everywhere,"
often preserving as in a mold the imprint of the paternal power
which it has outlived and upon which it is thought always to depend,
among Aryan peoples agnation is found together with the _potestas_
only in one instance, that of the Roman law; and even in this case
it was virtually the first to expire.[84] For, as is well known to
the student of Roman jurisprudence, strict agnation, as determining
right of succession, disappeared under the influence of the edict
and imperial statutes long before the last vestige of the real
_patria potestas_ was swept away by the legislation of Justinian.[85]
[80] MCLENNAN, _Patriarchal Theory_, 120-31; _Studies_,
I, 68 ff., 118; GIRAUD-TEULON, _Les origines, etc._,
329-32; KOVALEVSKY, _Tableau_, 31, 32; MAINE,
_Early Hist. of Inst._, 216 ff., _passim_.
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