Legal Definitions - plagium

Plagium is an ancient Roman legal term that described the unlawful abduction or detention of a person. It specifically referred to the crime of kidnapping, particularly of a child or a slave. The concept also extended to include the act of sheltering or concealing another person's slave without the owner's permission, thereby depriving the owner of their rightful property or service.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of plagium:

• Imagine a scenario where a disgruntled former servant, seeking revenge against their previous master, secretly takes the master's young child from their home and hides them in a remote village, intending to raise the child as their own. This act would constitute plagium because it involves the unlawful abduction of a child from their legal guardian.

• Consider a wealthy merchant who, desiring to expand his workforce, entices a skilled artisan slave belonging to a rival merchant to escape. The merchant then provides the runaway slave with new clothing, a place to live, and employment, fully aware that the individual is another's property and that he is acting without the original owner's consent. This act of harboring and concealing the slave would fall under plagium, as it unlawfully deprives the rightful owner of their slave.

• Picture a situation where a group of pirates raids a coastal town and forcibly seizes several free citizens, transporting them against their will to a distant market with the intent to sell them into servitude. This act of unlawfully taking and detaining free individuals, effectively reducing them to a state of captivity, would also be considered plagium under Roman law.