RELEGATION. - A punishment of the Roman imperial period, consisting in compulsory residence in a specified place or on an island, either permanently or for a fixed term (from six months [Cassiodoro, Var., III, 46] to ten years [Tacito, Ann., III, 17; 6, 49]). According to some authors, deportation (v.), of which it constituted the lesser degree.
It is certain, however, that r. belongs to those punishments called extraordinary, insofar as they are inflicted by imperial officials. Its fundamental characteristics are: its direct derivation from coërcitio (it was even employed in family coercion); its frequent combination, in graduated form, with other extraordinary punishments (amotio ordine, submotio curia, and adempiio bonorum); and the fact that, unlike ordinary exile, it does not entail necessary consequences (such as loss of citizenship or property, the latter being imposed, if at all, by sententia specialis). Finally, r. is a punishment reserved for citizens of high social rank (honestiores).