Definition
A Latin term from Roman civil law meaning a formal pursuit or following after — that is, the act of seeking a legal remedy through judicial process. As a technical term, *persecutio* referred to a specific category of civil law proceedings: the "extraordinary" proceedings (*cognitio extra ordinem*) conducted before the praetor, which fell outside the standard formulary system of Roman private litigation. More broadly, the term was used to encompass any judicial proceeding, including both *actiones* (formal actions) and other forms of legal relief.
The term is closely tied to its verbal root *persequi* — to follow after, to pursue, to claim — and carries the sense of actively pressing a legal demand rather than merely asserting a right.
Common Confusion
*Persecutio* should not be confused with the modern English word "persecution," which carries connotations of harassment, oppression, or discriminatory mistreatment. The Roman civil law term has no punitive or oppressive valence; it refers neutrally to the procedural act of pursuing a legal claim. Researchers encountering *persecutio* in historical sources should resist the instinct to read modern political or criminal meaning into the term.
*Persecutio* is also distinct from *actio* in a technical sense: an *actio* was a specifically defined right of action within the formulary system, while *persecutio* was the broader concept encompassing both formal actions and extraordinary proceedings outside that system.
Why It Matters in Research
*Persecutio* appears almost exclusively in sources addressing Roman civil law and its influence on later civil law systems — primarily in treatises, glossaries, and historical legal texts rather than in common law case reporters or statutes. Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus are most likely to encounter this term in:
— Comparative law treatments contrasting Roman procedure with common law forms of action
— Civil law historical treatises discussing the praetorian system and extraordinary proceedings
— Glossarial or encyclopedic works (particularly those drawing on Calvinus's *Lexicon Juridicum*, which both Black's and Burrill cite)
The key research trap is terminological drift: in later civil law commentary, *persecutio* was sometimes used loosely to mean any pursuit of a legal remedy, shedding its technical distinction from *actio*. When precision matters — for example, when analyzing whether a historical source is discussing ordinary formulary litigation or extraordinary praetorian proceedings — researchers should check whether the author is using *persecutio* in its strict or its general sense.
The term also serves as an entry point into the Roman procedural distinction between *ordo iudiciorum privatorum* (the ordinary system of private law actions) and *cognitio extra ordinem* (the extraordinary system), a distinction with lasting influence on civil law procedure in continental Europe and jurisdictions deriving from Roman or canon law traditions.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries are in close agreement, and the entries are substantially derivative of one another — both Black's editions and Burrill trace the general definition to Calvinus's *Lexicon Juridicum*, the standard Renaissance-era reference for Roman law terminology. The definitions align on two points: the narrow sense (extraordinary proceedings before the praetor) and the broad sense (any judicial proceeding).
Burrill adds the citation form "Calv. Lex." explicitly, confirming the shared lineage. Neither Black's edition nor Burrill elaborates on the procedural mechanics of extraordinary proceedings or the historical evolution of *cognitio extra ordinem*, leaving those questions to treatise sources outside these dictionaries.
What the historical dictionaries do not address: the relationship between *persecutio* and canon law procedure, where the term and concept exercised considerable influence; and the term's appearance in later civil law codes and commentaries where the Roman procedural context had largely dissolved.
Jurisdictional Note
*Persecutio* has no operative meaning in contemporary common law jurisdictions. It retains historical relevance in civil law scholarship and in comparative legal history. Researchers working in Louisiana, Quebec, or other mixed or civil law jurisdictions may encounter the term in historical sources but will not find it in modern statutory or procedural codes.