Emancipation

Emancipation, a solemn act by which under the Roman law a father divested himself of his power over his child, so that the child became sui juris. This cannot happen under English law, but by the French law a father or mother (being a. widow) may by a simple declaration emancipate a child at the age of 15 years, and the marriage of a child, at whatever age, operates as an emancipation. An orphan of the age of 18 years may be emancipated by a decision of the conseil defamille. The effects of emancipation are to render the child competent to act generally on his own account in all matters of a purely administrative character, but he remains subject to all former disabilities in respect of the alienation of capital, of real estate, of loan transactions and the like. If a trader, his capacity is unlimited.