Transactio in Roman law delicta and crimina processes and modern penal mediation. Historical and legal reflections on restorative justice

Abstract

Penal mediation is the new paradigm that current penal doctrine tries to integrate as innovation in criminal proceedings from the socalled principles of restorative justice. In this context, the Roman experience has been forgotten, as if with innovative penal mediation is intended that the parties build an eventual final agreement of economically, emotionally... restoration, the agreement that occurs in the context of the prosecution of a criminal offense was possible in the field of delicta and crimina of Roman law. The parties could agree through the agreement ending the dispute which was originated in this criminal context. Such basis may, likely, be useful for the intended integration of penal mediation in the current criminal justice system. Thus, the essential interest of this work is the analysis of Roman legal sources which end the dispute through pactum, transactio, when the cause of litigation is a delitum or a crime. They also get a historical-critical view of the management of penal mediation procedures.