CaseNotes

actio iniuriarum

ˈaktio iniuˈriːarum
noun phrase

Literal translation

action for injury or insult

Legal meaning

Actio iniuriarum is a Roman-law action received into South African law to protect personality interests, especially dignity, reputation, and bodily integrity against intentional infringement. In modern South African law it is commonly associated with claims for defamation, insult, unlawful arrest in certain circumstances, and other intentional affronts to personality rights. The action is distinct from Aquilian liability because it focuses on intentional injury to personality rather than patrimonial loss. Its continued influence appears in South African delict through the protection of dignitas, fama, and corpus.

Cases citing this term

Live search across the public SA + ZW case corpus. Results may include false positives where the same Latin lexeme appears in a different context.

Areas of law