Pater
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Father.
The initial word of several Latin maxims and phrases, viz.; Pater est quern nnptise demonstrant. He is the father whom the marriage indicates as such. This rule is applied in the civil law to children born before the marriage; but, in the common law, it is limited to children mate children of the husband and wife. The presumption may, however, be rebutted. The marriage of the parties is the criterion adopted by the law, in cases of ante-nuptial generation, for ascertaining the actual parentage of the child. If a man marries a woman who is with child, the English law presumes that he is the father of such child.
Rex v. Luffe, 8 East, 193. Paterfamilias.
The father of a family. In Roman law, the head or master of a family, whether actually a father or not. As to the authority of the paterfamilias, see Patria Potes-