Manus marriage

[3] In both cum manu and sine manu marriages, if both the husband and wife were alieni iuris (persons under patria potestas; that is, under the power of their respective patres familias), the marriage could only take place with the approval of both patres familias.

[1][3] Ownership of everything acquired prior to cum manu was transferred to her husband or his paterfamilias, while existing liabilities were erased.

[3] During this ritual, the bride and groom shared a bread made of emmer (farreus) (hence, the term confarreatio translates to "sharing of emmer bread"), a process that required the presence of ten witnesses and the recital of ceremonial sacred verses.

[8][9] In order to revive the practice of confarreatio, it was amended such that the wife of a Flamen Dialis fell under the control of her husband only during rituals and was otherwise as autonomous as other women.

[8] Cum manu was no longer acquired through confarreatio and became restricted to patricians pursuing priestly positions.

[10] The matrimonial process of coemptio, in essence a notional sale of the woman to the husband,[3][7] could be transacted at any point during the marriage.

[11] If the woman was not willing to come under the ownership of her husband, she could avoid manus by absenting herself for the total of three days and three nights before the end of each year.

[3] A sine manu marriage did not change the legal status of the bride with respect to property rights.

[13] This union allowed the wife to become independent sooner than cum manu, under the assumption that the fathers are likely to have died before a husband.