Killing a man in Roman and Polish criminal law. Remarks on changes introduced in treating the crime

Abstract

Killing a man is one of the most serious crimes. It is a life threatening crime, whereas life occupies leading place in the catalogue of values protected by law. Chapter XIX of the penal code specifies regulation of the Polish criminal law on law-penal life protection. Also in the ancient Rome, in all historic periods, killing a man was considered as one of the heaviest crimes. This work presentes remarks on treating this crime in Roman and Polish criminal law. In the first part, changes introduced in the ancient Rome in the life threatening group of crimes are considered. In particular, difference between killing a relative, parricidium, and a stranger homicidium, is indicated. In the second part stratification of the killing crime introduced into Polish criminal codes of XX century is presented Considerations are combined with remarks on legitimacy and significance of the changes.