Legal Definitions - nec manifestum

Nec manifestum is a Latin legal term that translates to "not manifest" or "not obvious." In the context of historical civil law, particularly concerning theft, this term was used to describe a situation where the perpetrator of a crime was not caught in the act of committing it. This distinction was significant because the legal penalties and procedures for someone apprehended red-handed (a "manifest" theft) were often more immediate and severe than for a thief whose actions were discovered after the fact.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of nec manifestum:

• Imagine a small business owner who conducts an inventory check at the end of the week and discovers that several high-value items are missing from the stockroom. No employees or security cameras captured anyone taking the items, and there were no signs of forced entry. The theft was only realized hours or days after it occurred, making it a nec manifestum theft because the thief was not apprehended during the act itself.

• Consider a person who returns home from work to find their front door unlocked and a valuable piece of jewelry missing from their bedroom. While the theft is clear, there were no witnesses to the break-in, and the perpetrator had already left the scene. Since the thief was not caught in the process of entering the home or taking the jewelry, this situation would be classified as nec manifestum.

• A company's financial department performs its quarterly audit and uncovers a series of unauthorized transactions made over several months by an employee. The funds were siphoned off gradually, and the fraudulent activity was only detected through a review of financial records, long after each individual transaction occurred. This scenario represents a nec manifestum act of theft or embezzlement, as the employee was not caught in the specific moment of transferring funds, but rather their actions were discovered retrospectively.