The Roman Law of To-day
It was inflicted in all cases in which the infringement of legal rights was an aggravated breach of faith. Then there were the pecuniary penalties, which were much more extensively employed than they are among ourselves. For the person who, in an unjust cause, instituted a suit, or allowed one to be instituted, there was an entire arsenal of such deterrent means in readiness. They began with fractions (1⁄10, 1⁄5, 1⁄3, 1⁄4,) of the litigated object, rose to multiples of its amount, under certain circumstances, where the defiance of the opponent could not be broken in any other way, ad infinitum, that is, to the amount which the plaintiff declared under oath to be satisfactory. There were especially two forms of procedure, the prohibitory interdicts of the praetor and the actiones arbitrariæ, which were intended to compel the accused to desist without any further disadvantageous consequences, or to expect to be considered a willful violator of the law, and to be treated accordingly. They compelled the accused, when he persisted in his resistance, or in his
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