From Cuasidelito to Negligent Crime: Typification of Involuntary Fire in Hispanic Law (11th-19th centuries)

Abstract

During the 18th century, the parameters of modern penal codification and the judicial and penological system began to be defined. The global rethinking of the economy, social organization, forms of coexistence, and, in general, the various aspects of human life characteristic of this century, inevitably involved criminal legislation. This normative branch was a key tool for reaffirming the authority of the State, protecting its social order, and socially disciplining individuals and their behavioural practices. At the same time, the enlightened elites were well aware that the rethinking of criminal regulations would have favoured the extensive process of social regulation and discipline, which, by affecting all areas of life, would have allowed counteracting those practices and customs that contradicted their discourse and systemic vision. This is demonstrated by the typification of involuntary fire as a criminal offense: if during the medieval and modern era, fire caused by imprudence or negligence, in other words, without intent, was considered merely a cuasidelito, and the responsible party was only required to provide compensation for damages, with 19th-century penal codification, it being elevated to a criminal offense. This article aims to reconstruct the main stages of this transition and explain the social and cultural reasons that pushed it.