Legal Definitions - necessitas

Necessitas is a legal concept, originating from Roman law, that refers to a situation where a person is compelled to act in a certain way due to an overwhelming force or urgent circumstances, thereby significantly diminishing or negating their free will. In such cases, an action that might otherwise be considered voluntary or even unlawful is understood to have been performed out of absolute necessity, rather than a deliberate choice. It implies a lack of genuine choice, where the individual is forced to choose the lesser of two evils or to act to prevent a greater harm.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of necessitas:

• Emergency Shelter: Imagine a hiker caught in an unexpected, severe blizzard in a remote, uninhabited area. Facing imminent hypothermia and certain death, the hiker breaks into an isolated, unoccupied cabin to seek shelter and use its emergency supplies.

  In this scenario, the hiker's act of breaking and entering, which would typically be illegal, is compelled by necessitas. The overwhelming and immediate threat to life from the extreme weather removes their free will to choose not to trespass. Their action is driven by the absolute necessity of survival, not by malicious intent or a desire to steal.

• Life-Saving Medical Intervention: A person collapses unconscious in a public place, bleeding profusely from a severe arterial injury. A doctor who happens to be nearby performs an emergency procedure using available tools to stop the bleeding and save the person's life, without obtaining explicit consent.

  The doctor's intervention, which involves a medical procedure without the patient's explicit consent, is justified by necessitas. The immediate, life-threatening medical emergency compels the doctor to act to prevent death. The patient's unconscious state means consent cannot be obtained, and the urgent need for intervention overrides the usual requirement for explicit permission, demonstrating an action compelled by necessity.

• Coerced Compliance: A bank teller is held at gunpoint by robbers who threaten to harm their family if the teller does not open the vault and hand over the money. The teller complies, allowing the robbers to steal a large sum.

  The teller's action of opening the vault, which facilitates a crime, is performed under extreme necessitas. The immediate threat of severe harm to their family constitutes an overwhelming force that compels them to act against their will. Their free will to refuse is overridden by the dire circumstances, making their compliance an act of necessity to protect their loved ones, rather than a voluntary participation in the robbery.