Rei publicae interest ne crimina remaneant impunita

 
  Innocent III, Inauditum (4 February, 1199):  Quia vero graviter peccant et qui loquitur mendacium et qui subticet veritatem, et publice interest, quod maleficia non remaneant impunita, magnificentiam tuam rogamus attentius per apostolica scripta mandantes  (Since they who speak mendaciously and subvert the truth sin gravely because it is the public interest that crimes (maleficia) do not remain unpunished, We call upon your magnificence through Apostolic letters). . .
 

Innocent III, Pope. Die Register Innocenz' III. 1: 1. Pontifikatsjahr, 1198/1199, Texte. Ed. Othmar Hageneder and Anton Haidacher. Publikationen des Historischen Instituts beim Österreichischen Kulturinstitut in Rom. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1964. No. 546 (549), pp. 790. Po. 591 (Alanus 5.12.5; Collectio Rotomagensis 21)
 
 

Lex Aquilia  Dig. 9.2.51(52).4: "Quod si quis absurde a nobis haec constituti putaverit, cogitet longe absurdius constitui neutrum lege Aquilia teneri aut alterum potius, cum neque impunita maleficia esse oporteat nec facile constitui possit, uter potius lege teneatur, multa autem iure civili contra rationem disputandi pro utilitate communi recepta esse innumerabilibus rebus probari potest (But in case anyone might think that we have reached an absurd conclusion, let him ponder carefully how much more absurd it would be to hold that neither should be liable under the lex Aquilia or that one should be held to blame rather than the other.  Misdeeds (i.e. deeds that have been performed with culpa) should not escape unpunished, and it is not easy to decide if one is more blameworthy than the other.   Indeed it can be proved by innumerable examples that the civil law has accepted things for the general good that do not accord with pure logic)." 

Innocent III, Vt famae (10 December, 1203) Ad primum igitur respondemus, quod cum prelati excessus corrigere debeant subditorum et publice utilitatis interest, ne crimina remaneant impunita, et per impunitatis audaciam fiant . . . (To the first therefore we answer that a prelate ought to correct the excesses of his subjects.  It is in the interest of the common good that crimes should not remain unpunished as the perpetrators become bold if they remain unpunished). 
 

Innocent III, Pope. Die Register Innocenz' III. 6: 6. Pontifikatsjahr, 1203/1204, Texte und Indices. Ed. Othmar Hageneder, John C. Moore, and Andrea Sommerlechner with Christoph Egger and Herwig Weigl. Publikationen des Historischen Instituts beim Österreichischen Kulturinstitut in Rom. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1995. No. 181 (183), pp. 301-302. Po. 2038.
 

On the relationship of the maxim to the use of torture, see Ken Pennington, Torture and Fear:  Enemies of Justice

Alanus Anglicus, 5.12.5 (Inauditum hactenus speciem falsitatis). Vercelli, Bibl. Cap. 89, fol. 120r-120v. Gloss of Alanus to "et publice interest quod maleficia non remaneant impunita" fol. 120v: "Infra de incid. in can. Vt fame <Alan. K 5.23.2= 3 Comp. 5.21.8 (X 5.39.35)>, ff. ad leg. Aquil. Item uult [Ita uulneratus recte] § penult. <Dig. 9.2.51(52).4> ff. [C. recte] de [ade male]penis, Superioris [Si operis recte], <Cod. 9.47.14> ff. de fideius. Si a reo § Idem quod uult [uolgo recte] <Dig. 46.1.70(71).5>

Tancred, De criminibus et qualiter agitur contra criminosos (ca. 1216), edited by Richard M. Fraher, "Summula de criminibus:  A New Text and a Key to the Ordo iudiciarius,"  Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law 9 (1979) 23-31

Incipit:  Quoniam rei publice interest ut crimina non remaneant impunita .  .  . nota quod quattuor modis agitur de crimine .  .  . in modum denunciationis, inquisitionis, exceptionis, et accusationis (It is in the public interest that crimes do not remain unpunished  ... Note that there are four ways of bringing a crime to justice:  denunciation, inquisition, exception, and accusation).