major (may-j[schwa]r). [Latin] 1. Roman law. An older person, esp. one older than 25 and hence of full capacity. 2. Roman law. An ascendant; an ancestor. 3. Hist. A mayor. 4. ADULT. 5. In the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, or U.S. Marine Corps, a commissioned officer who ranks above a captain and below a […]
in patria potestate (in pay-tree-[schwa] [orpa-tree-[schwa]] poh-tes-tay-tee). [Latin] Roman law. (Of a person) in the power of the father or a senior male ascendant; subject to patria potestas. • Uncles and brothers never had power over nephews or younger brothers. See patria potestas under POTESTAS; SUB POTESTATE. Cf. SUI JURIS.
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line, n. 1. A demarcation, border, or limit (the line between right and wrong). 2. A person’s occupation or business (what line of business is Watson in?). 3. In manufacturing, a series of closely related products. 4. The ancestry of a person; lineage (the Fergusons came from a long line of wheat farmers). collateral line.
querela inofficiosi testamenti (kw[schwa]-ree-l[schwa] in-[schwa]-fish-ee-oh-sI tes-t[schwa]-men-tI). [Latin “complaint of an undutiful will”] Roman law. An action allowing a descendant, ascendant, or sibling who was unjustly disinherited or passed over by a parent’s will to have the will set aside as undutifully made. “By far the most important is due to the querela inofficiosi testamenti. By
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atavus (at-[schwa]-v[schwa]s), n. [Latin] Roman & civil law. The male ascendant in the fifth degree; a great-grandfather’s or great-grandmother’s grandfather; a fourth grandfather.
paterfamilias (pay-t[schwa]r-f[schwa]-mil-ee-[schwa]s or pah-t[schwa]r-), n. [Latin] Roman law. The male head of a family or household; the senior ascendant male; esp., one invested with potestas (power) over another. — Also termed homo sui juris. See patria potestas under POTESTAS.
Civil law. A child who becomes a direct heir of a grandfather or other male ascendant because of the death of the child’s father.
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