BOOK I
THE LAW OF PERSONS
The Law of Persons: what it includes.The law relating to persons occupies the first book of the Institutes of Gaius and Justinian. The scope and meaning of the phrase have been much discussed, with little result save to show that the distribution of topics made in these treatises between the law of persons and the law of things is not logically defensible, or, at least, is not readily understood by modern writers. In this volume we shall include under the law of persons the allied topics of: (1) the law of status; (2) the law of the consequences of status; and (3) family law. No attempt will be made to keep these topics rigidly distinct. The method adopted will be to trace the legal life-history of human beings from conception to the grave, and to see how their rights and duties are affected by certain conditions or accidents of human life, such as birth, minority, marriage, mental disease. To this will be added some remarks on artificial or juristic persons. For convenience the subject will be treated in chapters dealing with:
