1. Roman law. A member of the council of priests in ancient Rome.
— Also termed pontifex.
“The specialists who interpreted the Twelve Tables and the unwritten part of the law were called pontiffs. At first they dealt with both sacred law (how to appease the gods) and secular law (how to secure peace among men). Some of them later confined themselves to secular law. As an example of how they interpreted the law, the Twelve Tables said that if a father sells his son three times (into bondage, to pay off debts) the son is to be free from his father’s power. The Twelve Tables said nothing about a daughter. The pontiffs held that if a father sold his daughter once, she was free.” Tony Honoré, About Law 13 (1995).
2. The leader of the Catholic Church; the Pope. See PONTIFEX.
