The subjected status of the coloni equalled them to persons alieni iuris, as slaves were too, but they were still free. It made marriages with those not in this way subjected with regard to the transmission of status ‘unequal’. It implies that children follow the status of the mother. This ‘unequal marriage’ and its consequence was introduced by earlier laws. To prevent the children out of marriages of a colonus with a not subjected woman being not subjected, the senatusconsultum Claudianum was applied. That made children follow the status of the father. The abolition of the senatusconsultum led Justinian to introduce the faculty of estate owners to recall coloni from such marriages in order to prevent the loss of labour force. CJ 11.48.19 established that every colonus after thirty years of service was no longer alieni iuris and thus subjected to their estate owner, but free from his control over him and his property. Such coloni are called ‘free’ coloni (coloni liberi). They remained tied to the estate and had to render services and to pay poll tax, but could now fulfill public functions as no longer being of subjected status.

Humanists and moralists, such as Leon Battista Alberti, treated patrimony as a seamless whole, shared by all those in a household, but above all passed from father to son. Their vision is what Bartolus gave legal shape to. It is also substantiated in the fiscal statements heads of household submitted to the government of Florence to determine civic finances. But in fact in law there were subordinate and overlapping rights; sons could have property of their own, designated peculium in law, from several possible sources, including their own labors in the market economy outside the home. Presumed sharing of assets and liabilities by creditors sometimes vanished into devices that separated ownership, leading to real concerns with fraud. Family account books reveal careful maneuvering and accounting by fathers and sons. Sorting out what belonged to a son or whether a father was liable presented legal difficulties as well.