Roman Divorce

In a Roman Marriage, Divorce was only permitted for men during the early centuries of the Roman Republic, although later, women were permitted to divorce their husbands.
During the Roman Empire, not only could a woman divorce her husband, but she could keep her Property and take back her Dowry.

Roman Women were under the authority of the Head of the Roman Family, the Paterfamilias. Great families sealed Political Alliances by Marriage.
However, Roman Marriage was based on Consent. In the event of either party withdrew their consent, then the marriage was annulled and divorce could occur.
In the early centuries, only Roman husbands could divorce their wives. If the Wife had no property of her own, divorce could leave her destitute.
Later, Roman Women were permitted to divorce their husbands if the marriage didn’t work out, or if the political alliance between the two families collapsed. However, the children remained the property of the husband or Paterfamilias, and stayed with him.

During the first century BCE the ‘In Manum’ Marriage Laws were suspended, and Marriages became ‘Sine Manu’, ‘not in Manum’.
This meant that the Woman kept her property and took back the Dowry. If adultery was involved the husband kept a portion of the Dowry.