ĂDOPTĬO, adoption. (1) GREEK.--Adoption was called by the Athenians εἰσποίησις, or sometimes simply ποίησις, or θέσις. The adoptive father was said ποιεῖσθαι, εἰσποιεῖσθαι, or sometimes ποιεῖν: and the father or mother (for a mother after the death of her husband could consent to her son being adopted) was said ἐκποιεῖν: the son was said ἐκποιεῖσθαι with reference to the family which he left; and εἰσποιεῖσθαι with reference to the family into which he was received. The son, when adopted, was called ποιητός, εἰσποιητός, or θετός, in opposition to the legitimate son born of the body of the father, who was called γνήσιος. A man might adopt a son either in his lifetime or by his testament, provided he had no male offspring, and was of sound mind. He might also, by testament, name a person to take his property, in case his son or sons should die under age. Only Athenian citizens could be adopted; but females could be adopted (by testament at least) as well as males. The adopted child was transferred from his own family and demus into those of the adoptive father; he inherited his property, and maintained the sacra of his adoptive father. It was not necessary for him to take his new father’s name, but he was registered as his son in the register of his phratria (φρατρικὸν γραμματεῖον). Subsequently to this, it was necessary to enter him in the register of the adoptive father’s demus (ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον), without which registration it appears that he did not possess the full rights of citizenship as a member of his new demus.--(2) ROMAN.--The Roman relation of parent and child arose either from a lawful marriage or from adoption. _Adoptio_ was the general name which comprehended the two species, _adoptio_ and _adrogatio_; and as the adopted person passed from his own familia into that of the person adopting, _adoptio_ caused a _capitis diminutio_, and the lowest of the three kinds. [CAPUT.] Adoption, in its specific sense, was the ceremony by which a person who was in the power of his parent (_in potestate parentum_), whether child or grandchild, male or female, was transferred to the power of the person adopting him. It was effected under the authority of a magistrate (_magistratus_), the praetor, for instance, at Rome, or a governor (_praeses_) in the provinces. The person to be adopted was emancipated [MANCIPATIO] by his natural father before the competent authority, and surrendered to the adoptive father by the legal form called _in jure cessio_. When a person was not in the power of his parent (_sui juris_), the ceremony of adoption was called _adrogatio_. Originally, it could only be effected at Rome, and only by a vote of the populus (_populi auctoritate_) in the comitia curiata (_lege curiata_); the reason of this being that the caput or status of a Roman citizen could not, according to the laws of the Twelve Tables, be effected except by a vote of the populus in the comitia curiata. Clodius, the enemy of Cicero, was adrogated