Zbornik Radova: Pravni Fakultet u Novom Sadu (Jan 2018)
Roman ius liberorum in the context of current population policy of the Republic of Serbia
Abstract
The right based on childbirth (ius liberorum) which involves the obligation to bear children in marriages regulated by legal norms was first defined during the reign of Emperor Augustus. He passed a set of laws on marriage as a specific response of the Roman state to the general decline of morals and family values in Rome. The ultimate objective of the marriage laws introduced by Emperor Augustus was a demographic one and it could not be achieved without adopting a set of norms, which influenced numerous domains of law and life, restricting personal freedoms of individuals in the interest of higher goals. 'The right based on childbirth' - at least as an idea - outlived the Roman Empire, experiencing various transformations. Although this right was formally abolished during the reign of Constantine, it exerted influence on the legal and social life of subsequent European states. The Government of the Republic of Serbia and its relevant ministry also opted for the measure of encouraging childbirth and granting privileges to mothers and families with several children. This has been meant to alleviate the demographic problem that Serbia is faced with. These measures can be seen as related to the Roman ius liberorum because the ultimate goal of the family laws was a demographic one. Nowadays, a very flexible view is taken regarding the regulations which restrict personal freedoms of the individual on account of higher interests (survival of the state). This should not come as a surprise when we know that today the parents' right based on childbirth has a different connotation. Instead of the phrasing 'the right based on childbirth' it is nowadays referred to as an 'allowance' granted to the parents who decide to have offspring. The allowance is granted by the state, whose goal is to stop negative demographic trends in the state of Serbia by encouraging childbirth. It is not just the term ius liberorum that now has a different connotation, but the very notion of a parent appears to be different as well. In the Roman society, only a father could be a parent, whereas today this concept encompasses both parents, the mother just as the father. A step further has even been taken, so that today the term 'parents' can also imply two men (to whom a child is born by a surrogate mother) or two women (one of whom will undergo in vitro fertilisation in order to have a child).
