Literary notes about Infraction (AI summary)
The term "infraction" has been employed in literature as a versatile marker of transgression, spanning contexts from personal honor to legal and societal codes. In early literature, as seen in Shelley’s work [1], it conveys a breach of personal integrity or an unkept promise, while in more structured narratives like Dumas’s [2] it denotes deviations from established regulations. In sociological and religious discourse—exemplified by Durkheim’s multiple uses [3, 4, 5]—"infraction" takes on the weight of violating ritual norms or practices that are fundamental to group cohesion. Furthermore, Carlyle's argument [6] extends the term to political realms, equating it with infringements on democratic rights, and even in historical legal discussions, as in Apicius [7], it is adapted to describe breaches of formal statutes. Together, these examples illustrate how "infraction" has been broadly defined to denote any deviation from expected conduct, whether moral, legal, or ritualistic.
- I also had engaged myself not to desert them; it appeared to me inhuman to ground any infraction of my word on theirs.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Dantès would not allow that any such infraction of regular and proper rules should be made in his favor.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Thus an infraction of the ritual is committed.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - For if it is acutely felt by all, it is because the infraction committed is an exception and the common faith remains entire.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - It is not that the group always intervenes to punish this infraction artificially; it is believed that the sacrilege produces death automatically.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - Is it not manifest infraction of one's Elective Franchise, Rights of Man, and Sovereignty of the People, this appendix of re-electing your Two-thirds?
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - The emasculated bird grew fat without his owner committing any infraction of the Roman law against fattening chickens.
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius
