# Institutes of Justinian 1.117-125

Roman Law and Society, Institutes of Justinian, Lines 1.117-1.125. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/institutes-of-justinian/1.117

12. If persons unite themselves in contravention of the rules thus laid down, there is no husband or wife, no nuptials, no marriage, nor marriage portion, and the children born in such a connection are not in the power of the father. For, with regard to the power of a father, they are in the position of children conceived in prostitution, who are looked upon as having no father, because it is uncertain who he is; and are therefore called spurii, either from a Greek word sporadan, meaning "at hazard," or as being sine patre, without a father. On the dissolution of such a connection there can be no claim made for the demand of a marriage portion. Persons who contract prohibited marriages are liable also to further penalties set forth in our imperial constitutiones.
13. It sometimes happens that children who at their birth were not in the power of their father are brought under it afterwards. Such is the case of a natural son, who is given to the curia, and then becomes subject to his father's power. Again, a child born of a free woman, with whom marriage was not prohibited by any law, but with whom the father only cohabited, will likewise become subject to the power of his father if at any time afterwards instruments of dowry are drawn up according to the provisions of our constitutio. And this constitutio confers the same benefits on any children who may be subsequently born of the same marriage.
XI. Adoption.
Not only are our natural children, as we have said, in our power, but those also whom we adopt.
1. Adoption takes place in two ways, either by imperial rescript, or by the authority of the magistrate. The imperial rescript gives power to adopt persons of either sex who are sui juris; and this species of adoption is called arrogatio. By the authority of the magistrate we adopt persons in the power of an ascendant, whether in the first degree, as sons and daughters, or in an inferior degree, as grandchildren or great-grandchildren.

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Roman Law and Society, Institutes of Justinian. Text: The Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com), used with permission. Changes: HTML markup removed and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
License: Used with permission (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/about.html). Source: http://thelatinlibrary.com/law/institutes.html.