prejudici

Prejudici is a term rooted in Latin prejudicium and used in several Romance languages to denote harm, damage, or disadvantage. In legal and philosophical usage, it describes something that harms a person’s rights, interests, or reputation, or that biases the outcome of a decision. The core sense across languages is injury or detriment, though the precise scope varies by jurisdiction and terminology.

In civil law, prejudici, or its cognate nouns such as prejudiciu (Romanian) or pregiudizio (Italian), is typically translated as damages or injury suffered due to another party’s actions. Courts assess the extent of prejudici and may award compensatory damages, and in some systems, punitive damages or moral prejudice may be recognized. In common-law contexts, the verb to prejudice means to impair or bias, and a prejudicial action can affect the fairness of proceedings or the rights of the parties.

Linguistic notes: French uses préjudice to mean harm or damage, and also prejudice in the sense of bias; Spanish uses perjuicio for injury or damage and prejuicio for bias. Romanian uses prejudiciu for damage; Italian uses pregiudizio; French uses préjudice. In English, prejudice or prejudicial describes bias or harm that affects the rights or the outcome.

Overall, prejudici is a legally and linguistically loaded term whose precise meaning depends on language, context, and jurisdiction, but it commonly centers on harm, damage, or bias affecting rights, property, or proceedings.