The Roman Roots of the Crimes of Deprivation of Liberty and Human Trafficking as Classified in the Polish 1997 Criminal Code

Abstract Freedom is one of the fundamental rights of the individual, protected by law in democratic countries. This lasting achievement has been marked by various fluctuations over the centuries. The ancient Romans had a completely different view of freedom, which resulted from the polarisation of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire into free people ( liberii ) and slaves ( servi ). This dichotomy influenced a number of private and public law institutions, determining the status of individuals in the ancient social structure. Like any community, the Romans were not immune to the temptations of pushing the boundaries of the law. Crime was a daily occurrence, so it was not much different from the current situation in democratic states governed by the rule of law. In this context, it is also worth looking at the lex Fabia de plagiariis , which was a response to the probably increasing phenomenon of kidnappings of both free people and slaves. The purpose of this article is to show that the crimes of deprivation of liberty and human trafficking, as defined by the 1997 Polish Criminal Code, have deep roots in Lex Fabia de plagiariis enacted in the last century of the Roman Republic.