# Institutes of Gaius 1.1.122-124

Roman Law and Society, Institutes of Gaius, 1.1.122 to 1.1.124. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/institutes-of-gaius/1.1.122

(90) Therefore, where a female citizen at Rome, who is pregnant at the time, is interdicted from fire and water, [2] and for this reason having become a foreigner, gives birth to a child; many authorities make a distinction, and are of the opinion that, as she conceived in lawful marriage, her child is born a Roman citizen, but if she conceived as the result of promiscuous intercourse, her child will be an alien. [1] This rule, as expressed in the maxim: " Partus sequitur ventrem ," has always been recognized. It not only applied to slaves, but also to illegitimate children, with reference to whom it is everywhere in force to-day. — ed. [2] Prohibition of the use of water and fire was a death penalty introduced by Sylla in the Lex Cornelia . The person upon whom it was imposed being by its terms excluded from the enjoyment of the absolute necessaries of life, was certain to perish miserably if the sentence had been literally executed, which it never was, in reality. It operated, however, as a forfeiture of civil rights, and was avoided by voluntary exile. Certain limits were prescribed within which the privileges of citizenship could not be exercised; and if the guilty party remained, he became a social outcast with whom all ordinary intercourse was prohibited, and whose acts were void in law. Those who were convicted of capital crimes either took refuge in foreign countries, or changed their residence beyond the radius prescribed by the sentence, trusting to good fortune or the efforts of their friends to have it annulled, and their disabilities removed by legislation, which was usually effected in the Comitia Centuriata where the trial had taken place. Many distinguished Romans were subjected to the interdiction from fire and water, among them Cicero, who was, in this way, banished four hundred miles from Rome. — ED.

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Roman Law and Society, Institutes of Gaius. Text: The Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com), used with permission. Changes: HTML markup removed and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
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