Présence et absence des enfants exposés dans le droit romain (i^er-iii^e siècles)

This contribution takes the reader to Rome between the first and third centuries, where there were no legal or moral impediments to exposing a child when doubts existed as to who might have fathered it. Since fatherless individuals were excluded from citizenship and inheritance, children who were found were generally taken in to become slaves. Surveying this reality of Rome addresses the notion of a child’s value in the economy of family strategies.