Emancipation

Emancipation, in the Roman law, was the act by which the Patria Potestas (q.v.), or paternal authority, was dissolved in the lifetime of the father. It took place in the form of a sale (mancipatio) by the father of the son to a third party, who manumitted him. The Twelve Tables required that this ceremony should be gone through three times, and it was only after the third sale that the son became sui juris, under his own law. In general, the son was at last resold to the father, who manumitted him, and thus acquired the rights of a Patron (q.v.), which would otherwise have belonged to the alien purchaser who finally manumitted him. In the case of daughters and grandchildren one sale was sufficient. In the law of Scotland, emancipation is called Forisfiliation. See also SLAVERY, SERF, CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.