Plural form of damnus; in Roman law, persons condemned or sentenced.
Latin plural nominative form of damnus, related to damnare (to condemn). This term comes directly from Roman legal vocabulary and was never truly adopted into English except in scholarly contexts.
Roman legal vocabulary is peppered throughout English law — 'damnii' appears in classical legal texts to describe the condemned, showing how English courtrooms inherited the entire organizational structure of Roman justice.
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