imputatio

Imputatio is a Latin noun meaning attribution, imputation, or charge. In English, the term is used to describe the act of ascribing a property, fault, or responsibility to someone or something. The root comes from imputare, “to reckon to” or “to ascribe,” formed from in- (“onto”) and putare (“to reckon, think, prune”).

In legal contexts, imputatio refers to the attribution of an act or fault to a person. This involves questions of imputability and liability, including when a person can be considered responsible for an act given their intent or mental state. In Roman law and later medieval and modern legal theory, imputatio plays a role in determining criminal or civil responsibility, such as whether a particular act can be legally charged to a specific actor.

In philosophy and theology, imputatio covers the attribution of actions or states to individuals as a matter of principle. In Christian theology, it is often discussed as the imputation of sin to humanity or the imputation of righteousness to believers, especially in discussions of justification. This use centers on whether certain properties or outcomes are considered as belonging to a person not by their actual possession but by attribution.

Beyond law and theology, imputatio can appear in broader discussions of attribution in ethics, epistemology, or rhetoric, where a claim or quality is assigned to a subject. Overall, imputatio concerns how and when responsibility, guilt, virtue, or other properties are attributed to someone or something, rather than being an intrinsic attribute of that subject.