Infamy

Infamy (Latin: infamy = " shame, shame ", literally " unspeakable " ) referred to in common parlance a dishonorable ( wicked or treacherous ) action or disrepute as such. Conceptually sets infamy preceded by a society that has a certain understanding of "honor".

Historically, law is understood infamy or disrepute the state of limited legal capacity as a result of the withdrawal or curtailment of civil rights of a person. The loss of civil rights could be explained in German criminal law until 1969 as a secondary consequence of conviction of certain offenses.

Even canon law knew the infamy to 1982 as a result of certain canonical offense. She was as a rule, automatically entering church punishment connected with the deprivation of certain member shaft rights of believers in the Roman Catholic Church.

Common use

In the Age of Enlightenment Voltaire was great motto against selfishness and infamy of his early Christian propagandists and clerical hegemonists " Ecrasez l' infâme! " ( thinks about " Etched from the infamous " ).

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing wrote: " I ​​can see where I stand with you, you ehrvergessener, worthless, infamous seducer, betrieger ". Friedrich Schiller published his short story " The criminals of Lost Honour " first under the title " criminals from infamy, a true story ".

The original meaning of the term seems to be forgotten. An infamous accusation may have originally an accusation by a honest and lawless person, be might have been than dishonorable or entrechtende accusation. Today is infamously usually used only as underlining the rejection of the statement, sometimes synonymous with sneaky, cheeky, cynical. The demise of the term is possibly justified in the decline of the importance of the concept of honor, whose antithesis it represents.

Former use as a legal concept

Roman law

Roman law recognizes the following terms to change or impairment of the legal status ( capitis diminutio ):

• Capitis diminutio minima as a change in family membership,
• Capitis diminutio media as a loss of civil rights and the family membership,
• Capitis diminutio maxima as a loss of freedom, civil rights and family affiliation.

This infamy, called Infamia iuris, let the Roman law occur as a result of certain actions, either as a direct consequence of the action itself ( infamy immediata ) or only as a result of the court decision, which the person concerned of such an act guilty declared ( infamy mediata ).

The former was for example the case for violation of the parent for the widow mourning year, the latter event of a conviction in the public people's court or as a result of certain offenses private and private actions (eg, abuse of trust assets by exploiting the ownership position ).

The main consequences of this infamy were inability to State and municipal offices, to prozessualischen other representation in court and full-fledged court testimony.

The concept of restricting the legal capacity found on Roman law entrance in the later Western legal systems.

Infamy in the Middle Ages

The protection of the medieval legal systems was initially the (Catholic) Christians. Heretics (eg Waldensians, Cathars ), Jews, Muslims and pagans were without rights, insofar as they are not privileges on the part of the country gentlemen were assured. These privileges conferred on their holders at least a partial and often regionally limited legal protection.

Christians could lose legal protection and legal capacity if they were condemned as heretics or felon. The condemnation of infamy could also be done by a spiritual authority and is found in the heretic laws of Frederick II and Gregory IX. in the 13th century. Pope Innocent III. resulted due to the risks of practicing impeachment proceedings ( Akkusationsverfahren and Infamationsverfahren ) the Inquisition proceedings. Many condemnations of heretics involved the conviction for the permanent infamy.

Examples:

• Waldensians, Cathars, Pope Innocent IV in 1252