1. The act by which one who was under another’s power and control is freed.
2. A surrender and renunciation of the correlative rights and duties concerning the care, custody, and earnings of a child; the act by which a parent (historically a father) frees a child and gives the child the right to his or her own earnings. • This act also frees the parent from all legal obligations of support. Emancipation may take place by agreement between the parent and child, by operation of law (as when the parent abandons or fails to support the child), or when the child gets legally married or enters the armed forces. [Cases: Child Support 386–392; Parent and Child 16. C.J.S. Parent and Child §§ 13–37, 158, 180, 183–184, 194, 222.]
3. Roman law. The enfranchisement of a son by his father, accomplished through the formality of an imaginary sale. • Justinian substituted the simpler proceeding of a manumission before a magistrate.
— Also termed (in sense 3) emancipatio. Cf. MANCIPATION.
constructive emancipation. Emancipation by law, as opposed to a voluntary act of the parent. • Constructive emancipation may occur in several ways, as by (1) conduct of the parent that is inconsistent with the performance of parental duties, (2) marriage of the child, or (3) the child’s service in the armed forces.
partial emancipation. Emancipation that frees a child for only a part of the period of minority, or from only a part of the parent’s rights, or for only some purposes.
