Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.54070/hljk.32.1.6
PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE DELICT OF MAGIC IN ROMAN LAW AND THE INFLUENCE OF ROMAN CONCEPTIONS: THE QUESTION OF PROTECTED LEGAL INTEREST
Ivana Jaramaz Reskušić
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
*
Dunja Milotić
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu Pravni fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
*
Ivan Milotić
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu Pravni fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
*
* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
In this article, the authors analyse Roman legal conceptions of magic, with particular emphasis
on the phenomenology of magic – that is, the underlying reality behind magical acts.
Rather than examining the criminalisation of magic in a formal or abstract sense, the article
considers it from the perspective of the legal interest protected by such criminalisation. Drawing
on selected legal and non-legal sources, the authors investigate the protected legal interest,
specifically the concrete property or personal interest that Roman law sought to safeguard
through the incrimination of magical practices. The article approaches the phenomenology
of Roman magic dynamically – through the development of Roman legal conceptions – since
Roman law continuously changed and adapted its approach to magic. Most often, this occurred
through the expansion of the semantic scope of magic, and, simultaneously, through the widening
of its legal incrimination. These legal adaptations were driven not only by the objective
need to protect personal and proprietary interests but also by considerations of political expediency.
As a result, magic increasingly came to be perceived as a form of anti-social and anti-
state behaviour, that is, as conduct contrary to Roman state policy. Roman legal conceptions
of magic, particularly as interpreted by the glossators, most notably Azo, were subsequently
adopted in medieval legal systems and were consistently applied until the end of the 13th century,
when, through theological elaboration, magic was transformed into witchcraft. Ultimately,
the regulation of magical acts in Roman law reveals one of the earliest distinctions between
public and private delicts, and even between public and private law itself.
Ključne riječi
magic, Roman law, verbal injury (iniuria), Christianity, canon law
Hrčak ID:
341081
URI
Datum izdavanja:
25.11.2025.
Posjeta: 457 *