Sacred Energy

The Vestals alone among Roman women could own property, make a will, and give testimony in court without a male guardian's consent

Vestal legal independence existed specifically because the vow removed her from the marriage and inheritance system ordinary guardianship law was built to police.

Under ordinary Roman law, a woman remained under some form of male guardianship — a father, husband, or appointed tutor — for essentially her entire life, needing his consent to conduct significant legal business. Vestals were a documented exception: ancient sources and legal scholarship record that on entering the order a Vestal became sui iuris, legally independent, free to own and manage property, draft a will, and give binding testimony in court without a guardian's approval. This status was granted precisely because her vow of continence removed her from the marriage and inheritance system that guardianship existed to police, treating her more like a Roman paterfamilias in legal capacity than like other women. The arrangement is a rare case in ancient law where celibacy expanded rather than restricted a woman's civic and economic power.

Written about in

• What celibate traditions say about money and property

  The Roman Vestals ran the opposite way. Their vow lifted them out of guardianship law, and they alone among Roman women could hold property, make a will and testify in court.

• What the celibate traditions say about envy and comparison

  Under the honours sat a legal fact: on entering the order a Vestal became sui iuris, free to own property, draft a will and testify without a guardian's approval, while other Roman women remained under guardianship for life. Her continence is exactly what removed her from the marriage and inheritance system guardianship existed to police.