Legal Definitions - incendium

Incendium is a historical legal term that primarily refers to a destructive fire. In the context of Roman law, it broadly meant "fire." In later historical legal systems, it more specifically denoted the crime of arson, which is the malicious and intentional setting of a fire to destroy property.

Here are some examples illustrating the historical application of incendium:

• In medieval England, a lord's enemy secretly sets fire to his stables, destroying valuable horses and equipment. This act of intentionally causing a destructive fire to another's property, with malicious intent, would have been historically recognized as incendium, the crime of arson.

• During the Roman Republic, a disgruntled citizen, seeking to disrupt public order, deliberately ignites a public granary, causing widespread destruction of food supplies. Here, incendium refers to the intentional act of setting a destructive fire, particularly one that harms public resources or order, aligning with the Roman law context of "fire" as a serious offense.

• A 17th-century landowner, embroiled in a property dispute, pays someone to burn down a disputed farmhouse. This scenario illustrates incendium as the historical crime of arson, where a fire is intentionally started to destroy property, often with a specific motive like revenge or to gain an advantage in a dispute.