ĒMANCĬPĀTĬO

was an act by which the patria potestas was di olved in the lifetime of the parent, and it was so called because it was in the form of a sale ( mancipatio ). By the laws of the Twelve Tables it was nece ary that a son should be sold three times in order to be released from the paternal power, or to be sui juris . In the case of daughters and grandchildren, one sale was sufficient. The father transferred the son by the form of a sale to another person, who manumitted him, upon which he returned into the power of the father. This was repeated, and with the like result. After a third sale, the paternal power was extinguished, but the son was re-sold to the parent, who then manumitted him, and so acquired the rights of a patron over his emancipated son, which would otherwise have belonged to the purchaser who gave him his final manumi ion.