A father is legally entitled to the care and custody of his children, but he may be deprived of the care of them by the court of chancery, if Ida conduct Is such as, in the opinion of the court, endangers the morals of the children. Percy Bysshe Shelley was, among other things, teatrained by an order of the court of chancery from taking possession of the persons of hie infant children, on the ground of his profesiing Irreligious and Immoral principle. and acting on them. W. P. T. L. Welleeley was also restrained by a like order from removing his children from the care and custody of their aunts, on the ground of his immoral conduct, and dinsetlons were given by the court for the custody and education of the children. But, except in such ewe as these, the children cannot be taken from the are of the father and given into the custody uf the mother or any other person.
Under Talfourtra act (2 & 3 Viet., c. 5 a mother may obtain access to her chili! which is in the sole custody of the father, or of any person by his authority, or of any guardian after the death of the father, alibied to ouch regulations as the court of chancery may think c-on vone.nt and just; and if such child shall be within the age of seven years, the court may order the child to be delivered into the custody of the teethes until the child attains the age of seven years. But no mother is to have the benefit of the act against whom adultery has been established by judgment in an action at law, or by the sentence of an ecclesiastical court.
A child who is under the parental power owes obedience to hie parent, which the parent may enforce by his superior strength, provided he uses it with moderation. He may beat Ills child and restrain his liberty, but not in such a way as to injure his health A child is legally bound to maintain his indigent father and grandfather, mother and grandmother, if he is able ; the penalty in case of refusal is 20s. per month.
The paternal power (patria potestae) among the ltomans was a peculiar feature in their institutions. It was founded on a legal marriage, or on a legal adoption : the children of such marriage and such adopted children were in the power of the father; the mother had no power over them. It followed from the principle of the patria potestas, which involved a right of property, that the children of a eon, not emancipated, were also in the power of their grandfather. By the death of the grand
father the sou became Ind jaris, and his children and grandchildren fell into his power. This patria potestas could be dissolved by EILANCI rartox Originally the father's power was absolute over the child, who had no independent political existence, at least as a member of his father's family. He was a Roman citizen, but at home he was subject to the domestic tribunal. Within the family the father had a power of life and death, and could sell the son as a rea mancipi, either by way of punishment, or by way of dissolving the family connection.
(Emexctrariost.] The father also originally possessed the jus memo daudi with respect to his son as well as a slave, a power which was a consequence of the principle of the father being answerable for the delicts of his son, and continued so long as that principle was in full vigour. The son who was in the power of his father could acquire no property for himself ; all his acquisitions, like those of a slave, belonged to his father: but at the death of the father they might become his own property, a circumstance which distinguished the acquisitions of a son from those of a slave. The father could marry hie children, divorce them, give them in adoption, and emancipate them at pleasure.
The strict notion of the patria potestas lies at the foundation of the Roman polity, Like other institutions, however, which in the early history of a etate form its essential elements, the strict character of the patria potestas be gradually relaxed and greatly changed. The history of such changes is part of the history of Rome.
The patria potestas might be dissolved in other ways besides those mentioned. If a father or son lost his citizenship, the relation between them ceased, for this relationship could only exist between Roman citizens. If father or son was made a prisoner by an enemy, the relation was in abeyance (in suspense), but was not extinct. If the sou attained certain high offices in the state, either civil or religious, the patria potestas was thereupon dissolved.
(Gains, i. 55, 97, 127, &c. ; 31arezull, Lehrintek der Inslit. des Mau Reeltes, 1839 ; Savigny, Sows des hestigen Rom. Reeks, 1840.)