# The Institutes of Gaius 1.1.244-248

Roman Law and Society, The Institutes of Gaius, 1.1.244 to 1.1.248. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/the-institutes-of-gaius/1.1.244

(193) Women are not held in guardianship among foreigners as they are with us; still, they are generally, as it were, in a state of tutelage; as, for example, the law of the Bythinians directs that if a woman enters into a contract it must be authorized either by her husband or by a son who has reached the age of puberty. (194) Moreover, a freeborn woman is released from guardianship if she is the mother of three children, and a freedwoman if she is the mother of four, and is under the legal guardianship of her patron. Those who have other kinds of guardians, as, for instance, Atilian [1] or Fiduciary, are released from guardianship by having three children. [1] The tutor Atilianus was appointed by the Prætor and the tribunes, under the Lex Atilia , when no guardian existed. This became necessary when there was a will, and the heir had not accepted the estate; or the designated guardian was incapacitated; or the testament from which he derived his authority was defective. — ed. (195) A freedwoman may, however, have a guardian appointed in several other ways; for example, where she has been manumitted by a woman, for then she must demand a guardian under the Lex Atilia , or in the provinces under the Lex Julia et Titia , for she cannot be under the guardianship of a patroness. (195a) Again, if she has been manumitted by a male and should enter into coemption with his consent, and then should be remancipated and manumitted, she ceases to have her patron as her guardian, and begins to have as a guardian the party by whom she was manumitted, who is designated a fiduciary guardian.

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Roman Law and Society, The 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.
License: Used with permission (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/about.html). Source: http://thelatinlibrary.com/law/gaius.html.