Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

damages), but stepping in to enforce its own values and dis courage certain kinds of behavior (by the additional penalty). You did not need to be the actual owner to have an action under this heading. Anyone with a formal financial interest could sue for such damages – for instance, the holder of a usu fruct in some piece of property, or the holder of a pledge given as security, or even, say, a dry cleaner holding a customer’s clothing. In the last case, the cleaner had legal responsibility to her customer to safeguard the clothing, and so could take action against a third party who damaged it. The same notion of interest also applies to the next delict, that of theft. Theft originated as a private law matter in Roman law, rather than as the criminal offense we make of it today. If someone stole something from you, you had to detect and sue them. It involved not just the taking of something without the own er’s permission, but the illegitimate use or “handling” of it. This included the embezzlement of items that were originally in your possession legitimately and even the “repurposing” of such items. For instance, if you kept a rental item beyond the agreed terms or used a rental car as a taxi (when you had agreed to personal use only), you might be liable for theft. Unlike many modern definitions, however, the scope of furtum did not include taking by fraud. This very broad “handling” definition made it important to be able to decide exactly what Furtum (Theft)

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