Banishment

Banishment (the act of putting under ban, 'proclamation,' as an outlaw) is a technical term in Scots Criminal Law for the punishment of sending out of the country under penalties against return. This punishment was formerly much used in various forms—e.g. banishment to the plantations or colonies; to England (even after the Union); from a particular county in Scotland, &c. Sometimes capital punishment was commuted to banishment for service in a foreign war. The old Scots doom of deportation was gradually merged in transportation under various British statutes. At present banishment is still the statutory sentence in cases of celebrating clandestine marriages. The idea of banishment occurs in the ostracism and petalism of Greece, and the relegation, exile, and deportation of Rome. It was generally accompanied by forfeiture of civil rights. In England voluntary banishment was called Abjuration. See OSTRACISM, OUTLAWRY, PRISONS.