Definition
De pace et roberia (Latin: "of peace and robbery," meaning breach of the peace and robbery) was a specific form of criminal appeal formerly available in English law. It designated one of the recognized categories of the ancient appeal of felony — a private criminal accusation brought by an injured party or their kin — which lay specifically in cases involving robbery accompanied by a breach of the king's peace. The writ or appeal initiated a formal accusation in which the appellee (the accused) was required to answer the charge by battle or other means. As a form of criminal appeal, de pace et roberia was part of the pre-indictment system of private prosecution that predated and eventually gave way to the grand jury and public criminal process.
Common Confusion
De pace et roberia is easily conflated with other named forms of the criminal appeal, such as de pace et plagis (breach of peace and wounding) and de morte hominis (appeal of death). These were distinct categories, each with its own procedural requirements and applicable circumstances. Researchers encountering Latin appeal writs in historical records should identify the specific form precisely, as the nature of the underlying charge and the procedural rights of the parties varied by category. The term should also not be confused with a modern civil action or with contemporary breach-of-the-peace offenses, which carry entirely different procedural frameworks.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in sources predating the abolition of the criminal appeal in England (formally abolished by statute in 1819). Researchers working in medieval and early modern English legal records — including plea rolls, eyre records, and year books — may encounter it as a procedural classification. Its presence signals a private prosecution context, not a Crown-initiated indictment, which has significant implications for understanding the procedural posture of a historical case.
The primary authority cited in all three source dictionaries is Bracton's De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (folio 146), the thirteenth-century treatise that remains the foundational text for understanding the medieval appeal system. Researchers should consult Bracton directly for the procedural framework governing this form of appeal. The secondary reference — Reeves' History of English Law — provides useful narrative context for how the appeal system functioned and declined.
Because de pace et roberia is a term of pure medieval procedure, it will not appear in modern statutory codes or contemporary case law except in purely historical discussions. Its research utility is therefore confined to: (1) identifying the nature of a proceeding in historical records; (2) understanding the relationship between private prosecution and early criminal law; and (3) tracing the evolution from appeal-based to indictment-based criminal process in England.
Researchers should be alert to the fact that the criminal appeal and its Latin designations are largely absent from American legal sources, as the form was never adopted in colonial or post-independence American practice. Any appearance of this term in American legal texts is purely antiquarian or comparative.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) and Burrill's Law Dictionary offer nearly identical entries, all tracing to the same two sources: Bracton and Reeves. This convergence reflects the narrow, settled nature of the term — it had a fixed historical meaning and generated no significant doctrinal controversy or evolution by the time these dictionaries were compiled. Burrill adds the cross-reference "See Appeal," which is the most useful pointer for researchers, as the general entry on appeal in historical dictionaries will contain the broader procedural framework within which de pace et roberia operated.
None of the three dictionaries expand beyond the two-sentence definition, which is appropriate given the term's status as a historical procedural label rather than a living legal concept. What the historical dictionaries do not address — and what researchers should seek elsewhere — is the actual procedural mechanics of prosecuting such an appeal: the form of the accusation, the role of combat, the defenses available to the appellee, and the circumstances under which the Crown might intervene. For these, Bracton's treatise and Pollock and Maitland's History of English Law are the essential sources.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Criminal Appeal (Historical)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Breach of the Peace
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Robbery (Historical)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Appeal of Felony