Potestas

PATRIA POTESTAS, Civil law. Paternal power; (q. v.) the authority which is lawfully exercised by the father over his children.
PATRICIDE. One guilty of killing his father.

*patria potestas - the right of the pater familias over the persons and property of the members of his agnatic family and slaves.

Delegata potestas non potest delegari. Delegated authority cannot be re-delegated.Delegatus non potest delegare. A deputy cannot deputize.

Thus we are led to consider the patria potestas, so stringently formulated in Roman law, as an expression of a common Aryan notion, which was already in existence before the Aryan tribes parted company and went their different ways.

The authority given must have been possessed by the person who delegates it, or it will be void; and it must be of a thing lawful, or it will not justify the person to whom it is given. It is a maxim that delegata potestas non potest delegari, ...

See also: Person, Law, Judge, Power, Civil