Editing Twelve Tables (section)

=== Table IV: Right of Familial Heads ===
The fourth table of the Twelve Tables deals with the specific rights of Patriarchs of families. One of the first proclamations of the Table IV is that "dreadfully deformed" children must be quickly euthanized. It also explains that sons are born into inheritance of their family. Babies with physical and mental diseases must be killed by the father himself.  If a husband no longer wants to be married to his wife he can remove her from their household and "order her to mind her own affairs"<ref name="gutenberg" /> Not all of the codes of table IV are to the benefit of only the patriarch. If a father attempts to sell his son three times then the son earns his freedom from the father.