„SI QUADRUPES PAUPERIEM FECISSE“: NATURALITÀ ED INNATURALITÀ DEL COMPORTAMENTO ANIMALE AI FINI DELL’EFFICACE ESPERIMENTO DELL’ACTIO DE PAUPERIE
„SI QUADRUPES PAUPERIEM FECISSE“: NATURALITY AND INNATURALITY OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE ACTIO DE PAUPERIE

Summary/Abstract: The nosal phenomenology does not serve as a paradigm in relation to pauperies, but with few exceptions, this goes unnoticed by the doctrine. Instead of addressing the institution systematically, the doctrine relates it to the complex dynamics of nosality in general (or liability for the actions of others), leaving it entangled in the same ‘enigma’. In the comprehensive discussion addressed in D.9.1.1., Ulpian specifies that in order for the damage caused by the animal to be compensable, the pauperies must be «contra naturam data». This annotation is not insignificant, to the point that the jurist in D. 9.1.1.4 feels the need to invoke authoritative of Servius. In the same perspective, the initial glimpse of D.9.1.1.7. The expression ‘contra naturam’ continues to be the crux desperationis for the interpreter: the jurist speaks of abnormal (or unnatural) behavior without specifying whether the reference point should be the typical behavior of the animal, or whether the usual behavior of specimens of the same species should be taken as the reference. Therefore, the perplexities must be resolved in favour of the interpretation that the behavior useful for evaluating the aggressiveness of the offending animal is that typical of specimens of its own species. While some attribute the phrase contra naturam to the compilers, most scholars retain its authenticity, albeit placing it, as it seems correct, within a specific chronological range, coinciding with the age of the Severans.

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