Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

, the term ''bonus pater familias'' ("good family father") refers to a

standard of care In tort law, the standard of care is the only degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care. The requirements of the standard are closely dependent on circumstances. Whether the standard of care has been b ...

, analogous to that of the

reasonable man In law, a reasonable person or reasonable man is a hypothetical person whose character and care conduct, under any ''common set of facts,'' is decided through reasoning of good practice or policy. It is a legal fiction crafted by the courts an ...

in the

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

Modern rules

Spain

Spanish law The Law of Spain is the legislation in force in the Kingdom of Spain, which is understood to mean Spanish territory, Spanish waters, consulates and embassies, and ships flying the Spanish flag in democratically elected institutions. Characterist ...

, the term used is a direct translation ("un buen padre de familia"), and used in the Spanish

Código Civil The current Portuguese Civil Code () was approved on 26 November 1966 and entered into force on 1 June 1967. It replaced the previous Portuguese Civil Code of 1868. Its text was prepared by a Commission of Professors of Law which in its final pha ...

. It is also used in Latin American countries.

Portugal

Portuguese law Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Po ...

the term is also mentioned in the

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

, in its direct translation ("um bom pai de família").

Italy

Italian law The law of Italy is the system of law across the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian legal system has a plurality of sources of production. These are arranged in a hierarchical scale, under which the rule of a lower source cannot conflict with ...

, the term is used in a direct translation ("diligenza del buon padre di famiglia").

France and Canada

Similar is the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

expression ''bon père de famille'', used in a sense similar to "reasonably cautious person." For example, in the case of ''Fales v. Canada Permanent Trust Co.,''

977 Year 977 ( CMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * May – Boris II, dethroned emperor (''tsar'') of Bulgaria, and his brother Roman manage to escape from captivity in Const ...

2 SCR 302, at p. 315, the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

described the standard of care and diligence expected of the manager of a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...

as being "ceux qu’un ''bon père de famille'' apporte à l’administration de ses propres affaires". In the English version of the decision, this concept was translated as "that of a ''man of ordinary prudence'' in managing his own affairs."Supreme Court of Canada
Fales v. Canada Permanent Trust Co.

2 SCR 302, 1976 CanLII 14 (SCC) (per Dickson J.) ''CanLII.'' Retrieved 22 November 2018.

References

Roman law Latin legal terminology Latin words and phrases Family in ancient Rome {{AncientRome-law-stub