Legal Definitions - irrogare

The term irrogare, primarily found in civil law contexts, refers to two distinct but related actions:

• The act of inflicting a penalty or imposing a sanction.
• The act of making or ordaining a law or formal rule.

Here are some examples illustrating the application of this term:

• Imagine a judge presiding over a civil lawsuit where one party has repeatedly ignored court orders to produce documents. To ensure compliance and uphold the court's authority, the judge might decide to irrogare a daily fine against that non-compliant party until the documents are provided.

  Explanation: In this scenario, the judge is actively imposing a penalty (the fine) as a direct consequence of the party's failure to follow legal directives, thereby illustrating the "inflicting a penalty" aspect of the term.

• Consider a state's environmental protection agency investigating a factory for discharging pollutants above legal limits. After a thorough review and finding of violation, the agency might irrogare a series of sanctions, including a substantial monetary penalty and mandatory operational changes, to ensure future compliance.

  Explanation: Here, the regulatory body is applying formal sanctions (monetary penalty, operational changes) as a punishment for violating environmental laws, which is another instance of inflicting a penalty.

• In a legislative setting, a national parliament might be debating new legislation to regulate the use of artificial intelligence. After extensive deliberation and amendments, the parliament could vote to formally irrogare a new statute establishing ethical guidelines and oversight mechanisms for AI development.

  Explanation: This example demonstrates the "making or ordaining a law" aspect, as the parliament is formally establishing and enacting a new legal rule (the AI statute) that will govern future activities in a specific domain.