HOW WAS DIVORCE IN ANCIENT ROME ?

In ancient Rome divorce was easy as getting married. Divorce was normally used among the wealthy patricians who simplified the legislation in order to ease the bureaucracy.Since marriage was a declaration, the divorce, which in Latin was called "repudium" was structured very similarly and consisted in a declaration or a letter in which it was stated the intention to not live together anymore.In case of divorce, the law stated that the declaration had to be pronounced or written before seven witnesses. The consequences of a divorce for a Roman matron,were that her dowry returned back to her in full and she could return back to the potestas of her father. However, if the woman was sui iuris, that is to say she was independent even before getting married, she would regain her independence upon divorce.Unfortunately,always in consequence of having less rights than their male conterparts,women could be divorced because of the adultery.However,the adultery (called stuprum) was legally sanctioned only against women but it never affected men who had the chance of having several mistresses at the same time, without incurring in law infringement.