Note 166 — XVI MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE UNDER ROMAN AND ENGLISH LAW
Reading edition
Nevertheless it was retained in a few families for the purpose of providing persons who could hold four great priestly offices, since by ancient usage none save those born from a marriage with confarreation were able to serve these priesthoods. But its operation seems to have been restricted by a decree of the senate so as to apply only so far as religious rites were concerned (quoad sacra) (Gai Inst. i. 136).