Jane F. Gardner describes how Roman law was based on the familia, a legal unit consisting of a male head and his legitimate descendants in the male line. Real Roman families, however, often did not fit this pattern. How did they exploit the rules to suit their own purposes, and how, under the influences of various social and demographic factors, were the rules themselves changed?

Ancient Roman families were very diverse, of course, but the basis of Roman civil law was the familia, a strictly defined group consisting of a head, called a paterfamilias, and his descendants in the male line. Recent work on the Roman family mainly ignores the familia, examining instead such matters as emotional relationships within families, the practical effects of control by a paterfamilias, and demographic factors producing families which did not fit the familia pattern. Gardner investigates the complex relationship that existed between family and familia, illustrating in particular how families exploited the legal rules for their own ends--and disrupted the familia--by use of emancipation (release from patria potestas) and adoption. She also traces legal responses to the effects of verious demographic factors, which gave increased importance to maternal connections, and to social effects, such as the troubles ex-slaves faced in conforming to the familia pattern.

For the social historian interested in gaining broad insights into the workings of Roman family law, Gardner's book offers many valuable conclusions ... The author's grasp of the complexities of her subject matter is impressive ... Gardner's analysis of cases cited in the Digest offers insight into social realities by giving brief glimpses of real families caught up in complicated legal and personal scenarios ... historians of the Roman family will definitely wish to keep the volume in their home libraries as a reference tool.