Criming

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Crimen designated in Roman law the one wrong that has been publicly punished. In strict usage, it was distinguished from injustice under civil law ( delictum ) .

meaning

The word comes from the Greek krinein , Latin cernere , divide, distinguish, and originally referred to the facts that were submitted to a judge for decision. In the course of time it took on an ethical meaning and also denoted the accusation of a crime or, rarely, the guilt. In the post-classical period the difference between delictum and crimen fades .

The legal system in ancient Rome had no compact, continuous criminal law. Corresponding regulations were in many laws ( leges ) , z. B. Lex Cornelia de falsis , Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis , Lex Pompeia de parricidiis and many others.

A distinction was made between crimina leviora (minor crimes), which were tried by the magistrate , and crimina atrocia (serious crimes), which were tried before jury courts (iudicia publica) . The procedure was based on laws that specified both the criminal offenses and the penalties. A corresponding code of procedure (lex Iulia iudiciorum) was issued under Augustus . In the imperial era, resolutions of the senate occasionally supplemented the legal facts.

In the extra ordinem procedure , crimes were tried that could not be brought before the jury, including crimes that are not listed in the law but were punishable by threats later.

An important distinction was made between crimina publica and crimina extraordinaria . The crimina extraordinaria included, for example, the unjustified appropriation or possession of inheritance matters (crimen expilatae hereditatis) , violent murder (crimen inter sicarios) , misconduct against the Roman faith (crimen laesae Romanae religionis) and crimes against the community (crimen maiestatis imminutae) . The distinction began to blur after Justinian .

See also

literature

  • Fritz Raber: Crime. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 1334 f.
  • A. Berger: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law. Philadelphia 1953.
  • J. Lengle: Roman criminal law with Cicero and the historians . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971. (Unv. Reprint of the Leipzig and Berlin editions 1934.)