/1/ Cicero narrates a
similar surrender of Mancinus by the pater-patratus to the
Numantines, who, however, like the Samnites in the former case,
refused to receive him. /2/
It might be asked what analogy could have been found between a
breach of contract and those wrongs which excite the desire for
vengeance. But it must be remembered that the distinction between
tort and breaches of contract, and especially between the
remedies for the two, is not found ready made. It is conceivable
that a procedure adapted to redress for violence was extended to
other cases as they arose. Slaves were surrendered for theft as
well as [14] for assault; /1/ and it is said that a debtor who
did not pay his debts, or a seller who failed to deliver an
article for which he had been paid, was dealt with on the same
footing as a thief. /2/ This line of thought, together with the
quasi material conception of legal obligations as binding the
offending body, which has been noticed, would perhaps explain the
well-known law of the Twelve Tables as to insolvent debtors.
According to that law, if a man was indebted to several creditors
and insolvent, after certain formalities they might cut up his
body and divide it among them. If there was a single creditor, he
might put his debtor to death or sell him as a slave.
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