Contributi allo studio della follia in diritto romano

Roman law since the archaic period took care of the furiosus, a citizen who was mentally impaired, protecting his person and his patrimony during the time in which he was incompetent. Latin has a great number of words to indicate mental illness, often too quickly considered interchangeable. Therefore, trying to ascertain the specific nuances of each term and trying to understand the selection made by jurists is a preliminary step to understand the legal regulation for the mentally impaired. In light of ancient classifications, I propose to divide the Latin lexicon of madness in two groups: one pertaining to exceptional and somewhat positive states of divine possession and another connected to insanity and mental impairment that extends to insipientia. In my opinion the legal jargon is oriented toward the first group.