[Sidenote: Capital punishments.]

[Sidenote: Criminal law gradually ameliorated.]

But there were also crimes against individuals which were punished with
the death penalty. Willful murder, poisoning, parricide, were capitally
punished. Adultery was punished by banishment, beside a forfeiture of
considerable property. [Footnote: D, 48, 5.] Constantine made it a
capital offense. The Romans made adultery to consist in sexual
intercourse with another man's wife, but not with a woman who was not
married, even if he were married. Rape was punished with death
[Footnote: C. 9, 13.] and confiscation of goods, as in England till a
late period, when transportation for life became the penalty. The
punishments inflicted for forgery, coining base money, and perjury, were
arbitrary. Robbery, theft, patrimonial damage, and injury to person and
property, were private trespasses, and not punished by the state. After
a lapse of twenty years, without accusation, crimes were supposed to be
extinguished. The Cornelian, Pompeian, and Julian laws formed the
foundation of criminal jurisprudence, which never attained the
perfection that was seen in the Civil Code. It was in this that the full
maturity of wisdom was seen. The emperors greatly increased the severity
of punishments, as probably necessary in a corrupt state of society.
After the decemviral laws fell into disuse, the Romans, in the days of
the republic, passed from extreme rigor to great lenity, as is
observable in the transition from the Puritan regime to our times in the
United States. Capital punishment for several centuries was exceedingly
rare, and this was prevented by voluntary exile. Under the empire,
public executions were frequent and revolting.

[Sidenote: Fines.]