PLA´GIUM
PLA´GIUM This crime was the subject of a Lex Fabia,
which is mentioned by Cicero (
pro Rabirio Perd. 3, 8), and is
assigned by some writers to the consulship of Quintus Fabius and M. Claudius
Marcellus, B.C. 183; but without sufficient reason. The chief provisions of
the lex are collected from the Digest (
48,
15,
6: cf. Paul.
Sent.
Rec. 5.30, 13): “If a freeman concealed, kept confined, or
knowingly with dolus malus purchased an ingenuus or libertinus against
his will, or participated in any such acts; or if he persuaded another
person's male or female slave to run away from a master or mistress, or
without the consent or knowledge
[p. 2.432]of the master
or mistress concealed, kept confined, or purchased knowingly with dolus
malus such male or female slave, or participated in any such acts, he
was liable to the penalties of the Lex Fabia.” The penalty of the
lex was pecuniary, and the consequence was infamia; but this fell into
disuse, and persons who offended against the lex were punished, either by
being sent to work in the mines or by crucifixion if they were
humiliores, or with confiscation of half of their
property or perpetual relegation if they were
honestiores. These punishments were imposed by the praefectus
urbi and the praesides provinciarum (Paul.
l.c. and
Colt. 14.2, 2: “Et olim quidem hujus legis poena
nummaria fuit; sed translata est cognitio in praefectos urbis; itemque
praesidis provinciae extra ordinem meruit animadversionem” ). The
crime of kidnapping men became a common practice, and required vigilant
pursuit (
Suet. Aug. 32). For a remarkable
instance, which has been introduced in modern romance, see Socrates,
Hist. Eccl. 5.8, cited by Marquardt. A senatusconsultum
ad legem Fabiam did not allow a master to give or sell a runaway slave,
which was technically called
fugam vendere; but
the provision did not apply to a slave who was merely absent. A
bonâ--fide possessor of a slave or freeman could not be made
liable on account of plagium. The name of the senatusconsultum by which the
Lex Fabia was amended, does not appear. The word
plagium is said to have come from the Greek
πλάγιος
“oblique,”
“indirect,”
dolosats. But this is doubtful. Schrader
(
Inst. 4.18.10) thinks that the derivation from
plaga (a net) is more probable. He who committed
plagium was
plagiarius, a word which Martial
(
1.53) applies to a person who falsely gave
himself out as the author of a book; and in this sense the word has come
into common use in our language. (
Dig. 48,
15; Cod. 9, 20; Paulus,
ll.
cc.; Geib,
Das Röm. Strafrecht, p. 52; Rein,
Das Criminalrecht, p. 386; Rudorff,
Rom.
Rechtsg. 2.117; Mizerski,
de Crimine
Plagii, Berol. 1865; Marquardt,
Privatleben,
1.168.)
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