A Three-Day Vacation To Avoid Turning Into Property
The wives of the Roman Empire needed to stay extra vigilant whenever they needed to leave their home for three days. After all, the “usacpio” law was enacted and it dictated the amount of time one could possess an object before it legally became yours. Uh-huh, that means a wife staying in her home for a year legally became the property of her husband. Luckily, the women felt entitled to freedom so they left their homes for several consecutive days to prevent the status change from happening.
Fathers With Excessive Amount of Rights Back Then
During the earlier days of the empire, there were few laws that prohibited fathers from doing just about anything they felt inclined to do. Among other things, these men could force both marriages and divorces, sell his children into slavery, and abuse – maybe even kill – members of his family. Fathers also had the ability to abuse children who misbehaved, though these kind of behaviors occasionally turned into murder. Back then, laws did not prohibit such uncouth behavior but people realized their mistake once the first century BC had come to pass. Even when they managed to put some laws in place, fathers could still kill their sons for committing a crime.