RELEGATION. – A penalty of the Roman imperial period, consisting of compulsory residence in a specified place or on an island, either permanently or for a 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 related to deportation (v.), of which it constituted the lesser degree.
It is certain, however, that relegation forms part of those penalties known as extraordinary, inasmuch as they were imposed by imperial officials. Its fundamental characteristics are: its direct derivation from coercitio (it was indeed used in domestic coercion); its frequent combination, in gradation, with other extraordinary penalties (amotio ordinis, submotio curiae and ademptio bonorum); and the fact that, unlike ordinary exile, it did not necessarily entail consequences such as loss of citizenship or property (the latter being imposed, if at all, by a special sentence). Relegation was, finally, a penalty reserved for citizens of high social rank (honestiores).