Cui bono - Wikipedia

29/11/2016, 01)00

Cui bono
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Cui bono" (/kwi bono/), literally "for whose benefit?", is a Latin phrase which is still in use[1] as a key
forensic question in legal and police investigation: finding out who has a motive for a crime. It is an adage
that is used either to suggest a hidden motive or to indicate that the party responsible for something may not
be who it appears at first to be.[2]
The phrase is a double dative construction. It is also rendered as "cui prodest" ("whom does it profit?").
Commonly the phrase is used to suggest that the person or people guilty of committing a crime may be
found among those who have something to gain, chiefly with an eye toward financial gain. The party that
benefits may not always be obvious or may have successfully diverted attention to a scapegoat, for example.
The Roman orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero, in his speech Pro Roscio Amerino,[3] section 84,
attributed the expression "cui bono" to the Roman consul and censor Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla:
L. Cassius ille quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat identidem
in causis quaerere solebat "cui bono" fuisset.
The famous Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise
judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, "To whose benefit?"
Another example of Cicero using "cui bono" is in his defence of Milo, in the Pro Milone. He even makes a
reference to Cassius: "let that maxim of Cassius apply".[4]

See also
Brocard (law)
Follow the money
General:
List of legal Latin terms
List of Latin phrases

References
1. Gerhart, Eugene C. (1998). Quote it completely, p. 258-259 (https://books.google.com/books?id=kjwVASsTUm0C&
pg=PA258&dq=).
2. Adeleye, Gabriel G. et al. (1999). World dictionary of foreign expressions, p. 86 (https://books.google.com/books?id
=a4ddQNrt8e8C&pg=PA86&dq=).
3. Pro Roscio Amerino (http://thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/sex.rosc.shtml)
4. Cicero, Pro Milone 32.3)

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Categories: Adages Criminology Conflict of interest Latin legal terminology
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