POCZĄTKI PRZEDAWNIENIA ŚCIGANIA PRZESTĘPSTW W RZYMSKIM PRAWIE KARNYM
THE ORIGINS OF THE PRESCRIPTION OF OFFENCES IN ROMAN CRIMINAL LAW

Summary/Abstract: The institution of prescription of offences was for the first time introduced to Roman criminallaw in the times of Augustus within the lex Iulia de adulteriis coërcendis, which, under the public law,penalized as a crime nearly all the extramarital relations, especially those of adultery (adulterium), andequally treated stuprum, which constituted fornication with unmarried women and widows. A manguilty of adulterium was equally penalized. If a husband failed to divorce or charge his adulterouswife, he could be subjected to penalty for pandering, equally to a pander (lenocinium). In this law,the prescription of offences was introduced for the first time. The prosecution could be brought notlater than five years after committing a crime. Under Tiberius, however, the legislation attemptedto derogate the prescription, and prostitutes (originally not subjected to prosecution) were equallysubjected to penalties. Caligula, on the other hand, ceased to prosecute lenocinium and instituted taxeson prostitutes and panders. Nevertheless, the adultery was still penalized in accordance to Augustanlaw, with the prescription period of five years still in force.

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