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Abstract
The actio de dolo and stellionatus were Roman institutions designed to combat fraud in contractual relationships, evolving in parallel throughout legal history. This paper examines their origins, their survival in the Middle Ages—with special attention to the Siete Partidas of Alfonso X—and the influence of Canon Law, as well as their reception in modern law in the main civil law systems (Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal) and common law systems (England). In the Spanish context, its impact is traced from its medieval precedents to the crime of fraud in Article 248 of the 1995 Penal Code, highlighting the persistence of dolus malus as a central element, in contrast to dolus bonus, the distinction of which marked its treatment in Rome and its evolution under Christian morality and modern codification. It is argued that this heritage not only persists but also adapts to the challenges of contemporary fraud.
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