Debtor's fraud in Roman law. An opportunity for some brief remarks on the concept of fraud

In this article the subject of fraud by a debtor leads to some reflections on the concept of fraud, with the focus on the difficult problem of distinguishing civil from criminal fraud. This article discusses the roots of the idea of fraud in the writings of the Roman jurists, pointing out that its two aspects, damage and the will to cause it through trickery, which are at the core of the concept itself, only represent the final stage of a process of confusion between fraud and malice. An examination of ancient sources, legal as well as literary, shows that the original idea of “fraus” was concerned with only objective damage, the “eventus damni”. Perhaps this article will lead others to new insights on the “grey zone” between civil and criminal fraud.