ACTIO VI BONORUM RAPTORUM

3 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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ACTIO VI BONORUM RAPTORUMAuthored
The Law Mind • 816 words
Definition
An actio vi bonorum raptorum (Latin: "action for goods taken by force") is a civil law remedy available to a person whose movable property had been seized or carried away through force or violence. The action was mixed in character, combining a claim for recovery of the goods themselves with a penal component: a successful plaintiff could recover treble the value of the goods taken, making the action both restitutionary and punitive in function. The action lay specifically for movable goods (bona) wrongfully taken by force (vi). It did not require the defendant to be the owner of the force; the action reached anyone who participated in or directed the violent taking.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter this term primarily in sources treating Roman civil law, its reception into medieval English jurisprudence through Bracton, and comparative legal history. Several navigational points matter: First, the term appears in discussions of Roman mixed actions alongside actio furti (theft) and actio damni injuria (wrongful damage). Understanding how Roman jurists distinguished these actions is essential to reading Bracton and later common law treatises accurately. Bracton's formulation — de rebus mobilibus vi ablatis sive robbatis — explicitly equates this action with what the common law would later call robbery, making the term a bridge concept between civil law and early English criminal procedure. Second, the penal multiplier (triple value) is a recurring feature in Roman penal actions and reappears in various forms across English and American statutory law. Researchers tracing the history of treble damages, qui tam actions, or punitive damages will find the actio vi bonorum raptorum cited as a structural ancestor. Third, Black's entry fragment gestures toward qui tam or popular action doctrine — the suggestion that "any man that will may sue on account of the king and himself" — which, if accurately transcribed in context, would be a significant comparative data point for researchers studying the origins of qui tam standing and public enforcement through private plaintiffs. Researchers should verify the full Black's passage in context, as the surviving fragment appears to conflate or run together distinct entries; the qui tam language may belong to an adjacent entry rather than to this action specifically. Fourth, this term will not appear in most American or English case law reporters in its Latin form. Its research value is almost entirely historical and comparative — it belongs to the intellectual genealogy of remedies rather than to operative modern doctrine.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the most complete and reliable entry. Burrill correctly identifies the action as a species of mixed action in the civil law, specifies the remedy (recovery of the goods plus a penalty of triple value), and supplies the Institutes citations (Inst. 4.2; Id. 4.6.19). Crucially, Burrill quotes Bracton's formulation — de rebus mobilibus vi ablatis sive robbatis — which is the most important link between this Roman action and early English common law. The phrase sive robbatis ("or robbed") is analytically significant: it shows that Bracton understood this action as the civil law analogue to what English law was developing as robbery. Black's Law Dictionary entry, as preserved in the source material, is fragmentary and partially corrupted in transcription, mixing language that appears to relate to qui tam actions or penal statutes. Researchers relying on Black's for this term should treat the entry with caution and cross-check against Burrill and the Institutes passages directly. Both dictionaries agree on the essential structure: mixed action, movable goods, forcible taking, treble value penalty. Neither source explores the action's relationship to the praetorian edict from which it derived, or the debate among Roman jurists about whether it subsumed or ran concurrently with actio furti. Researchers needing that depth should move to Gaius's Institutes and Justinian's Institutes directly, both of which are cited by Burrill.
Jurisdictional Note
This action belongs to Roman civil law and has no direct operative existence in modern common law or civil law jurisdictions. Its significance in Anglo-American legal research is historical and comparative. Civilian jurisdictions that retained Roman law foundations may reference the action in doctrinal genealogies of tortious taking or conversion.
Related Terms
Actio furti — Roman action for theft; distinguished from actio vi bonorum raptorum by the element of force Mixed action — the procedural category to which this action belongs Conversion — modern common law functional equivalent for wrongful taking of personal property Robbery — criminal law analogue recognized by Bracton in his sive robbatis formulation Treble damages — modern statutory remedy sharing structural ancestry with Roman penal multipliers Qui tam action — see research caution note above regarding Black's entry fragment Bona — movable goods; the subject matter of the action Vi — by force; the element distinguishing this action from simple theft actions Actio damni injuria — companion Roman tort action for wrongful damage to property
ACTIO VI BONORUM RAPTORUMmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
| breach of a penal statute, and which any man In the civil law. An action for goods taken that will may sue on account of the king and by force; a species of mixed action, which himself, as the statute allows and the case lay for a party whose goods or movables requires. Because the action is not given to (bona) had been taken from him by force, one especially, but generally to any that will (vi) to recover the things so taken, together prosecute, it is called "action popular;" and, with a penalty of triple the value. Inst. 4, from the words used in the process, (qui tam 2; Id. 4, 6, 19. Bracton describes it as lying pro domino rege sequitur quam pro se ipso, de rebus mobilibus vi ablatis sive robbatis, who sues as well for the king as for himself,) (for movable things taken away by force, or it is called a qui tam action. Tomlins. robbed.) Bract. fol. 1036.
ACTIO VI BONORUM RAPTORUMmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
In the civil law. An action for goods taken by force; a species of mixed action, which lay for a party whose goods or movables (bona,) had been taken from him by force, (vi;) to recover the things so taken, together with a penalty of triple the value. Inst. 4. 2. Id. 4. 6. 19. Bracton describes it as lying de rebus mobilibus vi ablatis sive robbatis; (for movable things taken away by force, or robbed.) Bract. fol. 103 b.

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