Legal Definitions - liberatio

Liberatio

Historically, liberatio referred to a payment made, typically in money, to secure the delivery of an item or to gain the right to use something. It essentially meant a payment for obtaining possession or access to a particular thing.

Here are some examples illustrating this historical concept:

• Imagine a medieval merchant whose goods, imported from overseas, were held in a customs warehouse at the port. To retrieve his cargo of valuable silks and spices, the merchant would make a liberatio. This payment was specifically for the delivery and release of his goods from the warehouse into his possession, allowing him to take them to market.

• Consider a farmer in a historical agricultural community who needed to use a specific piece of communal land for a temporary period, perhaps to graze his sheep during a particular season. The payment he made to the local lord or governing body for this temporary right to use that land would be an example of a liberatio. It was a payment made for the use of a specific "thing" – the pasture.

• In a historical scenario where a valuable item, such as a family jewel or a piece of equipment, was held as security or collateral for a debt, the payment made to redeem or secure the return of that item would be a liberatio. This payment was made to ensure the delivery and release of the pledged item back to its rightful owner.