Si quadrupes pauperiem fecisse dicatur

This monograph investigates the Roman legal framework governing damage caused by animals, challenging the traditional dogmatic assimilation of the actio de pauperie into the general paradigm of noxal liability. Re-evaluating early archaic sources and Decemviral provisions, the work demonstrates that damage caused by animals (pauperies) was historically and structurally distinct from crimes committed by dependents (noxa). While noxal actions against filii familias or slaves derived from delictual wrongdoing (delictum or iniuria) rooted in personal offense and archaic revenge mechanisms, the actio de pauperie functioned as an objective remedy to restore patrimonial depletion caused by an animal acting without intent (sensu carens). Relying solely on the master's ownership (dominium), the archaic regime applied strict material causality to settle agricultural disputes. Only later through Republican and classical interpretatio prudentium did jurisprudence introduce natura animalis as a tempering criterion to delimit liability within Roman private law.