Furtum Law and Legal Definition
Furtum is a Latin term which means theft. It refers to the offense of stealing movable property. In Roman law, furtum was one of the traditional species of a quasi-delict which is wrong caused by negligence. Furtum includes not only the taking of another's property, but also any handling of the property done with the intent of profiting by it. Furtum was not only a private wrong (delictum) prosecuted by the person suffering the loss but also a public wrong. In order to constitute furtum it was not necessarythat the thief should know whose property the thing was. A person who was in the power of another might be the object of furtum. For example, a debtor might commit furtum by taking a thing which s/he had given as a pledge to a creditor; or by taking his/her property when in the possession of a bona fide possessor. Thus there might be furtum either of a moveable thing itself, or of the use of a thing, or of the possession, as it is expressed. A person can also commit furtum by aiding in a furtum as when a person drives away anothers sheep or cattle so that another might get possession of them. Furtum also refers to the thing stolen.
