Definition
In Roman and civil law, *erro* (plural: *errones*) denoted a slave who habitually wandered away from the household or estate without permission but without the intention of permanent escape. The *erro* was a truant or stray slave — one who absconded temporarily or roamed without authorization — as distinguished from a fugitive slave (*fugitivus*), who left with the intent to remain away permanently.
The distinction carried legal weight primarily in the law of sale. A seller of a slave was required under the *actio redhibitoria* and related civil law remedies to disclose known defects, and a tendency to wander (*errare*) was treated as a defect in the slave's character that could affect the validity of a sale or give rise to an action for rescission or price reduction.
Common Confusion
*Erro* (truant slave) and *fugitivus* (fugitive slave) are the two primary Roman law categories for slaves absent without permission, and they are frequently run together in secondary sources. The distinction is intent: the *fugitivus* left intending to stay away permanently; the *erro* wandered without that settled intent to escape. The legal consequences differed — classification as a *fugitivus* was a more serious defect in a slave sale and carried additional stigma and liability. Burrill's entry does not draw this contrast explicitly, but the Digest passage it cites addresses it directly.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter *erro* almost exclusively in the context of Roman law sources, particularly in the *Digest* (Justinian's compilation), where the classification of slaves by behavioral or physical defect is treated systematically. Burrill's citation to Dig. 21.1.17.14 places *erro* squarely within the title *De aedilicio edicto* — the aedilician edict governing slave sales in the marketplace. Any researcher working through civilian treatises, canon law commentaries, or early modern European legal scholarship that draws on Roman sources may encounter the term without gloss.
The term does not survive into Anglo-American common law as a legal term of art. It appears in English-language legal dictionaries chiefly as a civil law entry for scholars of Roman or comparative law. Researchers consulting early American or English legal dictionaries should not expect *erro* to carry doctrinal weight in domestic case law; its presence signals that the source is drawing on civilian learning, not common law practice.
One navigational trap: the Latin root *erro* (to wander, to err) also gives rise to the English legal terms *error* and the writ of *error*, which are entirely unrelated concepts. Do not conflate the slave-law term with the appellate procedure term. Keyword searches in Latin or mixed-language legal texts may surface *erro* in both senses; context — particularly whether the surrounding text concerns slave transactions or appellate procedure — will disambiguate.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's entry is spare: "A truant slave," with the single citation to the Digest. This compression is characteristic of Burrill's treatment of civil law terms that had no living application in American practice at the time of publication. The entry preserves the term for scholarly completeness rather than practical use.
The Latin dictionary tradition (here, the classical sources underlying Burrill) confirms the root meaning: *erro* as one who wanders, derived from the Latin verb *errare*, to stray or go astray. Classical Latin texts use the verb and its derivatives broadly, but in legal Latin the noun *erro* acquired the specific technical sense of the habitually truant slave. This narrowing of a common Latin word into a precise legal category is itself instructive for understanding how Roman jurists worked — taking everyday vocabulary and loading it with legal consequence.
No significant divergence exists among historical legal dictionaries on this term; the entry is narrow and the sources agree. What the historical dictionaries do not address is the doctrinal context: the aedilician edict's broader framework for slave-sale warranties, the distinction from *fugitivus*, and the remedies available to buyers. Researchers needing that context should move from the dictionary entry to the Digest text directly and to modern Romanist scholarship on the *actio redhibitoria*.
Jurisdictional Note
*Erro* as a legal term of art is confined to Roman and civil law systems. It has no reception in English common law and does not appear in American statutory or case law as an operative term.