Liberum corpus nullam recipit aestimationem

Nevertheless, for the Romans this result was much less disturbing than it appears to us. For what did the judge have to assess under chapters one and three of the lex Aquilia? Originally only either the full value of the object killed (chapter one) or the diminution in value that had occurred as a result of the injury (chapter three); and even at a time when the full interest had become recoverable, aestimatio corporis or aestimatio vulneris remained the starting point and cornerstone for its assessment.¹⁰⁷ Under both chapters one and three, therefore, a specific pecuniary value had to be assigned to the object in question.

3.