Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BAN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 306 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

BAN , a word taken from the See also:

root of a verb See also:common to many See also:Teutonic See also:languages and meaning originally " to proclaim " or " to announce." The See also:Late See also:Lat. See also:form of the word is bannum. In the See also:laws of the See also:Franks and kindred tribes the word had three See also:main uses: first in the See also:general sense of a See also:proclamation, secondly, for the See also:fine incurred for disobeying such proclamation, and thirdly for the See also:district over which proclamations were issued. It was the frequent use of proclamations or bans, commanding or forbidding certain actions under a See also:threat of See also:punishment, which caused the second of these uses to arise out of the first, as the See also:idea of wrong-doing became associated with the proclamation or ban. This bannum dominicum, as it was called, was employed by all feudal lords, from the See also:king downwards, against offenders, and played an important See also:part in the See also:administration of See also:justice in feudal times. It usually took the form of an See also:order to make some amend for wrong-doing, which, if not complied with, was followed by the withdrawal of all See also:protection from the offender, i.e. by See also:outlawry. After the break-up of the Carolingian See also:empire another use of the word arose in See also:France. " Ban " had occasionally been used in a restricted sense referring only to the See also:summons calling out the See also:host; and as France became separated from the Empire, See also:French See also:law and See also:custom seized upon this use, and soon the men liable to military service were known as " the ban." A variant form of this word was heriban or ariban, and it is possible that some confusion between the See also:early syllables of this word and the word arriere led to a distinction between the ban and the arriere-ban or retro-bannum. At all events this distinction arose; the ban referring to the vassals called out by the king, and the arriere-ban to the sub-vassals called upon by the vassals in their turn. As in See also:England, the liability to military service was often commuted for a monetary See also:payment, and there were various exemptions. In the 17th and 18th centuries the ban and arriere-ban were lacking in discipline when called out, and were last summoned in 1758. See also:Local levies, however, called out between this date and the Revolution were sometimes referred to by these names. In the See also:medieval Empire and in See also:Germany the word "ban" retained the See also:special sense of punishment.

The See also:

German See also:equivalent.of ban is Acht, and the See also:sentence soon became practically one of outlawry. Connected possibly with the See also:power enjoyed in earlier times by the assemblies of freemen of outlawing an offender, it was frequently used by the See also:emperor, or German king, and the phrase " under the ban " is very common in medieval See also:history. The See also:execution of this sentence of placing an offender under the imperial ban, or Reichsacht, was usually entrusted to some See also:prince or See also:noble, who was often rewarded with a portion of the outlaw's lands. It was, . owever, only a serious punishment when the king or his supporters were strong enough to enforce its execution. Employed not only against individuals but also against towns and districts, it was sometimes divided into the Acht and the Oberacht, i.e. partial or See also:complete outlawry. Documents of the See also:time show that the See also:person placed under the imperial ban See also:drew down See also:absolute destitution upon his relatives and frequently See also:death upon himself. At first this sentence was the See also:act of the emperor or king himself, but as the Empire became more German, and its administration less See also:personal, it was entrusted to the imperial aulic See also:council (Rcichshofret), and to the imperial See also:court of justice or imperial chamber (Reichskammergericht). These courts were deprived of this power in 1711, retaining only the right of suggesting its use. The imperial ban had, however, been used for the last time in 1706, when See also:Maximilian Emanuel, elector of See also:Bavaria, was placed under it. There are many other uses of the word in the sense of a See also:prohibition. In earlier French law the ban of See also:wine or bannum vini, was the exclusive right of a See also:lord to sell wine during a stated number of days, and the ban of See also:March and See also:April forbade the pasturing of See also:cattle in certain See also:fields during these months. There were also other similar uses dating from feudal times.

In See also:

modern French law the phrase rupture de ban described, previous to 1885, the departure without See also:notice of any released criminal living under the special surveillance of the See also:police. The French See also:government still retains the rights of appointing an obligatory See also:place of See also:residence for any criminal, and any See also:escape from this place is a rupture de ban. A Scandinavian use of the word gives it the sense of a curse. This usage mingling with the use which spiritual lords shared with temporal lords of issuing the ban over their dependents, has become in a special sense ecclesiastical, and the sentence of See also:excommunication is frequently referred to as " under the papal ban." The word is also used in this way by See also:Shakespeare and See also:Milton. The modern See also:English use of the phrase " under the ban " refers to any See also:line of conduct condemned by custom or public See also:opinion. In its earlier and general sense as a proclamation, the ban may be said to have been suspended by the -See also:writ. The word, however, survives in the sense of a proclamation in the " banns of See also:marriage " (q.v.). The See also:Persian word ban, meaning lord or See also:master, was brought into See also:Europe by the See also:Avars. It was See also:long used in many parts of See also:south-eastern Europe, especially in See also:southern See also:Hungary, to denote the See also:governors of military districts called banats, and is almost equivalent to the German See also:margrave. After enjoying very extensive See also:powers the bans were gradually reduced, both in See also:numbers and importance. Since 1868, however, the See also:governor of Croatia and Slavonia has been known as the ban of Croatia, Slavonia and See also:Dalmatia, but his duties are See also:civil and not military. He is appointed by the emperor of See also:Austria, as king of Hungary, and has a seat in the upper See also:house of the Hungarian See also:parliament.

See Du Cange, Glossarium, tome i. (See also:

Niort, 1883) H. See also:Brunner, Grundzii.ge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (See also:Leipzig, 1901); E. P. Boutaric, Institutions militaires de la France (See also:Paris, 1863) ; Pere G. See also:Daniel, Histoire de la milice francaise (Paris, 1721).

End of Article: BAN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BAMRA 		[next]
BANANA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries