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# From Imperium to Ius Puniendi: On the Distinction Between Punishment and Enforcement

## Details

**Authors** Lorca

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Criminal Law and Philosophy

**Discipline** Law & Jurisprudence

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-026-09815-9) 
10.1007/s11572-026-09815-9

## In authors' words

### What they found (results)

The paper argues Roman legal theory kept general ruling authority (imperium/potestas) categorically separate from coercive enforcement (coercitio), with punishment intrinsic to neither, and that modern legal theory has wrongly collapsed this distinction by treating punishment as inherent to statehood.

## Commentary

### In short

The paper's core contribution is showing that two legal categories were falsely merged and must be held as distinct, which reshapes which forms of state coercion get scrutinized as punishment.

**Patterns it shows** D

**Added** 2026-09-10

**How to cite this** Lorca (2026). From Imperium to Ius Puniendi: On the Distinction Between Punishment and Enforcement. Criminal Law and Philosophy.