Cui bono
Cui bono? (Classical Latin: [kui̯ ˈbɔnoː]), in English "to whom is it a benefit?", is a Latin phrase about identifying crime suspects. It expresses the view that crimes are often committed to benefit their perpetrators, especially financially.
Usage[edit]
The phrase is a double dative construction. It can also be rendered as cui prodest? ("whom does it profit?") and ad cuius bonum? ("for whose good?").
Background[edit]
L. Cassius ille, quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat, identidem in causis quaerere solebat, cui bono fuisset?[1] |
Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a most honest and most wise judge, was in the habit of asking time and again in lawsuits: "to whom might it be for a benefit?" |
| —Cicero: Pro Roscio Amerino, §§ 84, 86 |
Another example of Cicero using Cui bono is in his defence of Sextus Roscius, in the Pro Roscio Amerino, once again invoking Cassius as the source: "Let that maxim of Cassius apply."[2]
American sociologist Peter Blau has used the concept of cui bono to differentiate organizations by who has primarily benefited: owners; members; specific others; or the general society.[3]
See also[edit]
General:
References[edit]
- ^ Karl Felix Halm (1861), John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor (ed.), Cicero's Second Philippic, p. 87
- ^ Cicero, Pro Roscius Amerino 32.3.
- ^ Blau, Peter (1962). Formal Organizations.