RELEGATION. - A penalty of the Roman imperial period, consisting in compulsory residence in a determined place or on an island, either in perpetuity or for a fixed term (from six months [Cassiodorus, Var., III, 46] to ten years [Tacitus, Ann., III, 17; 6, 49]). According to some authors it would have been connected with deportation (v.), of which it would have constituted the lesser degree.

It is certain in any case that r. is one of those penalties called extraordinary, inasmuch as they are imposed by imperial officials. Its fundamental characteristics are its direct derivation from coërcitio (it was even used in family coercion); its frequent combination, in gradation, with other extraordinary penalties (amotio ordine, submotio curia and ademprio bonorum); the fact that it does not produce, unlike ordinary exile, necessary consequences (such as the loss of citizenship or of property, the latter imposed, if ever, by sententia specialis). R. is, finally, a penalty reserved for citizens of elevated social rank (honestiores).

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: Th. Mommsen, Röm. Strafrecht, Leipzig 1899, pp. 964 ff., 1084; E. Costa, Crimini e pene da Romolo a Giustiniano, Bologna 1921, pp. 93-96; U. Brassello, La repressione penale in dir. romano, Naples 1937, p. 292 ff.

Rodolfo Danieli

@incollection{ec10_relegazione, author = {Danieli, Rodolfo}, title = {Relegazione}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {694}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/relegazione} }

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Relegation

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