Infamia in Roman law denoted disgrace, harm to civic honor, and dignity. It was a legal institution with legal consequences, occurring based on a legally established fact, while a bad reputation (turpido, sometimes referred to as infamia facti) was a factual state caused by one’s own disgraceful way of life.
Infamia in Ancient Rome
Infamia was distinguished into immediate (infamia immediata) and mediate (infamia mediata). Immediate infamia occurred immediately after the commission of an act to which the law attributed defamatory effects, such as bigamy, the remarriage of a widow before the expiration of the mourning year, false accusations, insolvency and the sale of a debtor’s property, or the practice of a certain occupation, as was the case with actors, prostitutes, or gladiators.
Mediate infamia occurred as a consequence of a conviction in a legal process, primarily criminal but also private, if it involved dishonorable conduct on the part of the defendant. Typically in cases of theft and robbery (in Roman law treated as private offenses) or deceiving a minor, or in cases of gross breach of trust in disputes over deposits, guardianship, or mandate contracts. Regardless of their main subject, these lawsuits were collectively called actiones famosae because their secondary consequence was infamy for the convicted.
Even if he were a citizen, a passive-aggressive homosexual who was “outed” may lose his legal status yet face societal stigma in Ancient Rome.
Because the prerequisite for legal capacity in ancient Rome was an unblemished civic honor, infamia was already included in the Twelve Tables of Law: if someone participated in mancipatio and then refused to testify about it, they became intestabilis. They could no longer testify themselves, and others could not testify against them, which practically meant, for example, that they could not make a will. Additional forms of infamia were introduced by special laws and praetors in their practice.
A dishonorable citizen could not represent or be represented in court, submit various proposals to the court, or file an actio popularis, which any Roman citizen could otherwise file (turpido had lighter consequences, although the judge had to consider it, for instance, in witness testimony). In the public domain, infamy could lead to exclusion from the Senate or the inability to run for magistracies. However, the private law and procedural consequences of infamia were not incorporated into Justinian’s codification of Roman law.
Conditions for Infamia
In ancient Roman law, a citizen was subjected to infamia for:
- Committing disgraceful acts (bigamy; granting permission, given by a father to his widowed daughter, to enter into marriage before the expiration of the lawful mourning period; a citizen marrying a widow under the same conditions).
- Engaging in a profession that brought disgrace to the citizen (prostitution, pandering; the profession of a gladiator, a dramatic actor — although exceptions were made for Atellan actors).
- In the case of conviction in certain civil proceedings (this included the violation of obligations considered particularly sacred, such as obligations under a partnership or deposit contract, as well as the breach of duties by a guardian), for certain offenses (robbery, deception, theft), and for criminal offenses.
Definitions
The provisions regarding infamy, as they appear in Justinian’s legislation, are contained in Digest 3, title 2 “De seu qui notantur Infamia,” and in Justinian’s Code, title 12 “Ex quibus causis Infamia irrogatur.” The Digest contains the cases of infamy listed in the Praetor’s Edict. There are also various provisions on the subject in the Lex Julia Municipalis (45 BC), commonly referred to as the “Heraclea Table” (Heraclean Tablets).