If a student went to the library to borrow a book, they might find it unavailable because there was only one copy. They would have to wait for the previous student to finish reading and return it. Or, if the later borrower knew who had borrowed it first, they could lend it between themselves without going through the library. Either way, you could feel the actual book in your hands.
Its ownership did not belong to you, but its contents had already been committed to your mind, forming intangible "property." It clearly could not be "sat upon"; it possessed neither the characteristics of physical control nor the attributes of material accumulation.
Roman Law divided things into material and immaterial. For example, if a young man saw a girl on the road and struck up a conversation with her, he was not infringing upon her.
In its broadest sense, the word iniuria meant an unlawful act. In the Aquilian Law, it referred to the deliberate violation of a person's dignity.
The Twelve Tables recorded it as follows:
If someone broke another person's limb, the punishment was retaliation in kind, unless the parties reached an agreement regarding the punishment.
If he broke someone's bone, the punishment was 300 asses if the injured party was a free citizen, and 150 asses if the injured party was a slave.
If iniuria was committed, the punishment was 25 asses.
Retaliation in kind was easy to understand: a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye. It was a revenge custom from primitive society. The Code of Hammurabi stipulated that if a free man destroyed another's eye, his own eye should be destroyed; if he broke a free man's bone, his bone should likewise be broken.
Josephine took a dragoon as her lover. When Napoleon