in the Roman law, the setting free of a son from the subjection of a father; so that whatever moveables he acquires belong in property to him, and not to his father, as before emancipation.

By emancipation the son was put in a capacity of managing his own affairs, and of marrying without his father's consent, although a minor. Emancipation differed from manumission, as the latter was the act of a master in favour of a slave, whereas the former was that of a father in favour of his son. There were two kinds of emancipation; the one tacit, which was by the son's being promoted to some dignity, by his coming of age, or by his marrying, in all which cases he became his own master of course; the other express, where the father declared before a judge that he emancipated his son. In performing this act, the father executed an imaginary sale of his son to another person, who was called *pater fiduciarium*, or father in trust; from whom the son was immediately purchased by the natural father, who thereafter manumitted him before the judge by a verbal declaration.