Roman law and the insanity defense
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Roman law has two short dicta regarding the insanity defense
The first is "satis furore ipso punitur" from De lege Pompeia de Parricidiis (part of the Corpus Iuris Civilis) and freely translates as "an insane offender is punished sufficiently by his madness".
A variant on this phrase is "furiosus satis ipso furore punitur" (Eng: the madman is sufficiently punished by his madness) is attributed to Marcus Aurelius.
The second is dictum is "fati infelicitas excusat," which translates as "the bad luck of his fate is his excuse." The full citation is "Infans vel furiosus si hominem occiderint, lege cornelia non tenentur, cum alterum innocentia consilii tuetur, alterum fati infelicitas excusat" and it stems from the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis.
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