Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

beings. More serious injuries cost more than less serious ones, and injuries to free persons more than injuries to slaves. The latter provision partially overlapped with the eventual scope of the lex Aquilia , but the former was independent. In the mid second century bc, the scope of the delict was substantially expanded by the Edict. The story preserved for us is that a man walked through the Forum slapping passers-by and then voluntarily paying the statutory fine. Whether true or not, the story illustrates two important points. First, the statutory fines were fixed amounts that, over time, had been rendered largely obsolete by inflation. Second, the man’s offense was not really physical harm (except incidentally), but the indignity suffered by his victims. The Edict addressed both issues. It allowed judges in individual cases to set appropriate penalties. It also allowed suits for any insult, whether attached to a physical injury or not. While the new scope of the delict was deliber ately broad, there were certain areas that remained especially important. The first of these was the original core area of physical assault, though any attack was now covered, not just one that did significant injury. The new version of iniuria now also cov ered defamation, whether in speech or in writing. Insulting songs may perhaps have been actionable before, under a differ ent provision of the Twelve Tables, but even if so, that would have been rendered obsolete under the Edict. Beyond verbal defamation, other acts that might bring a person’s reputa tion into question could also give rise to an iniuria action. For instance, there could be an action if someone falsely advertised

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