Gaius, On the Provincial Edict, Book XVI. In this Section of the Edict, the Proconsul, actuated by sentiments of natural equity, promises prætorian possession to all cognates whom the tie of blood calls to the succession, even though they may not be entitled to it under the Civil Law. Therefore, even the illegitimate children of the mother, as well as the mother of such children, and brothers of this description, can demand prætorian possession of an estate from one another; for the reason that they are cognates, reciprocally. This rule applies to the extent that where a female slave who was pregnant when she was manumitted has a child, the child subsequently born is the cognate of the mother, and the mother is the cognate of the child, and any children who are afterwards born to her are also cognates of one another.

Gaius, On the Provincial Edict, Book XVI. The head of the family himself is included in the term “family.” 1It is clear that children do not belong to the family of the wife, because anyone who is born to a father does not follow the family of his mother.