Ancient Roman families were very diverse, of course, but the basis of Roman civil law was the
familia
, a strictly defined group consisting of a head, called a
paterfamilias
, and his descendants in the male line. Recent work on the Roman family mainly ignores the
, examining instead such matters as emotional relationships within families, the practical effects of control by a
, and demographic factors producing families which did not fit the
pattern. Gardner investigates the complex relationship that existed between family and
, illustrating in particular how families exploited the legal rules for their own ends—and disrupted the
—by use of emancipation (release from
patria potestas
) and adoption. She also traces legal responses to the effects of verious demographic factors, which gave increased importance to maternal connections, and to social effects, such as the troubles ex-slaves faced in conforming to the
pattern.