Debt? Debt of Private Wrong (II) and Crime

Author: (Italian) Scibani
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1999-04-01
Features: Part B of the fourth volume, second section of Selected Translations of the Civil Code is included in the section on "Debts," but its content extends beyond the theme of debts, entering a broader framework where all forms of "liability arising from unlawful acts outside contracts" are considered. Private torts are debts arising from unlawful damages (in Aquilian law), theft, robbery, insults, and the combination of these acts, aimed at establishing a fine to be paid to the victims of private torts, who become creditors (private penalty). The punishment included in these debts is characterized by the fact that the defendant's liability does not extend to others, joint and several liability, the possibility of surrendering the wrongdoer, and cumulative competition with the claim for restoration of the original state (the possibility of competition, which is debated in some cases and excluded). Coexisting with these debts are quasi-private torts, where "quasi" originally referred to these debts themselves, the related litigation, and their similarities to the aforementioned characteristics. However, this similarity was developed by the Civil Code into a specific analogy as a ground for the occurrence of debts, giving rise to the concept of quasi-private torts, which is accepted in many civil codes (e.g., the 1804 French Civil Code, the 1857 Civil Code of Chile, etc.), while other civil codes later unified the category of torts outside contracts (e.g., the 1900 German Civil Code, the 1942 Italian Civil Code).