The Roman Law of To-day
is their credit; they have honor only so long as they have money; they may, therefore, without any danger of losing their honor or reputation, bear being called opprobrious names, and when they belong to the lower class, put up with a slap, if not very painful, or a rap over the nose.” If the unfortunate man was a Jew or peasant, he was, for violating this prescription, to bear the penalty of prohibited self-defense, whereas other persons were to be punished as “gently as possible.”
But what is especially edifying is the manner in which it was attempted to exclude the right of self-defense when a question of property was involved. The law of property, some said, was just like that of honor, a reparable loss; the former was repaired by the reivindicatio, the latter by the actio injuriarum. But how if the robber has taken to his heels and escaped to foreign parts, and no one knows who or where he is? The owner has still de jure the reivindicatio, and “it is only the consequence of accidental circumstances, entirely independent of the nature of the
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