Definition
A Latin term from the civil law meaning to adulterate, corrupt, falsify, counterfeit, or forge. The term does not refer to the marital offense of adultery but rather to the act of debasing or fraudulently altering something — documents, accounts, currency, goods, or other objects — so as to misrepresent their true nature, quality, or authenticity. Its most commonly cited application is *adulterare rationes*: to forge or falsify accounts.
ADULTERARE functions as a root concept encompassing several related but distinct fraudulent acts:
1. **Falsification of documents or accounts** — altering written records to deceive, as in *adulterare rationes*.
2. **Counterfeiting or forgery** — producing a false version of something genuine, particularly currency, seals, or instruments.
3. **Adulteration of goods** — debasing a substance (food, wine, metals) by mixing inferior or foreign material into it.
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Common Language
**Modern common usage (Wiktionary):** *Adulterate* (verb) — to make something impure or weaker by adding another substance, typically an inferior one. Most commonly used of food, drink, or drugs.
**Historical common usage (Webster's 1913):** "To corrupt, debase, or make impure by an admixture of a foreign or a baser substance." Webster's gives examples including adulterated milk and adulterated coin.
The common meaning has narrowed over time toward physical adulteration of substances. The legal Latin *adulterare*, however, carried a broader reach into documentary fraud and forgery — a dimension entirely absent from modern ordinary usage. A researcher encountering *adulterare* in a civil law context should not assume the term is limited to the adulteration of goods.
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Common Confusion
ADULTERARE is frequently misread as a variant of or reference to *adulterium* (the marital offense of adultery) because of their shared Latin root. The two terms are unrelated in legal application. *Adulterium* concerns sexual infidelity and its legal consequences under Roman and canon law; *adulterare* concerns fraud, falsification, and debasement. The confusion is especially easy in older digest translations and abridgements where both terms may appear in proximity. Always read context carefully before assuming which concept a source intends.
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Why It Matters in Research
ADULTERARE appears primarily in civil law sources — Roman law texts, their medieval glosses, and early modern treatises drawing on the Digest. Researchers working in those materials need to recognize that the term's scope is wider than any single English equivalent captures. Depending on context, the right modern translation might be "forge," "falsify," "counterfeit," "adulterate," or "corrupt" — and choosing the wrong one can mischaracterize the offense being discussed.
The Digest citation in Burrill (Dig. 11.3.1.5, concerning the actio servi corrupti) places *adulterare rationes* in the context of corrupting a slave into falsifying accounts — a passage that touches both on the delict of corrupting another's servant and on documentary fraud. Researchers following this citation into the Digest should be aware they are entering a multi-layered source: the passage addresses liability for inducing a slave to commit a fraudulent act, not simply the forgery itself.
For researchers tracing the history of forgery and fraud offenses, *adulterare* is a useful entry point into the civilian tradition that fed into early English equity and mercantile law. However, the term does not map directly onto common law forgery, which developed along a distinct doctrinal path. Do not assume that civil law discussions of *adulterare* and common law discussions of forgery are describing the same legal wrong with the same elements or the same remedies.
Historical indexes and digests of Roman law will sometimes list *adulterare* under fraud (*fraus*), sometimes under forgery (*falsum*), and sometimes under corruption of documents (*corruptio instrumentorum*). Cross-referencing all three headings is advisable.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill is the primary shelf source covering this term, and his entry is compact but accurate. He correctly identifies the civil law provenance, gives the key phrase *adulterare rationes*, and supplies the Digest citation. The entry does not, however, distinguish among the term's several applications — falsification of accounts, counterfeiting of currency, and adulteration of physical goods are all covered by the same Latin verb but were treated under different titles of the Digest and attracted different remedies.
No significant divergence among historical dictionaries is apparent, since the term appears to have been carried forward from the same civil law sources without substantial reinterpretation. What the historical dictionaries collectively miss is any guidance on how *adulterare* relates to the *crimen falsi* — the broader Roman category of fraud and falsification — which is the natural doctrinal home for most acts that *adulterare* describes.
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Jurisdictional Note
ADULTERARE is a civil law term with no direct common law counterpart and has no operative role in American, English, or other common law jurisdictions as a term of art. Its relevance to researchers is primarily historical and comparative: Louisiana, Quebec, and other mixed civil law jurisdictions may surface the term in older sources, but modern statutes in those jurisdictions use vernacular equivalents.
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