Proscription

The Proscribed Royalist, 1651, painted by John Everett Millais c. 1853, in which a Puritan woman hides a fleeing Royalist proscript in the hollow of a tree

Proscription (Latin: proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (Oxford English Dictionary) and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated in Ancient Rome, where it included public identification and official condemnation of declared enemies of the state and it often involved confiscation of property.[1]

Its usage has been significantly widened to describe governmental and political sanctions of varying severity on individuals and classes of people who have fallen into disfavor, from the en masse suppression of adherents of unorthodox ideologies to the suppression of political rivals or personal enemies. In addition to its recurrences during the various phases of the Roman Republic, it has become a standard term to label:

  1. ^ Magill, Frank N. (15 April 2013). The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography. Routledge. pp. 1209–. ISBN 978-1-135-45740-2. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  2. ^ Thomas H. Reilly, 2004, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire"", Seattle, WA, University of Washington Press, p. 43ff, 14ff, 150ff, ISBN 0295984309, accessed 18 April 2015
  3. ^ For example: Alison, Archibald (2011) [1833]. History of Europe During the French Revolution. History of Europe during the French Revolution 10 Volume Paperback Set. Vol. 2 (reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 309. ISBN 9781108025386. Retrieved 2016-01-09. St Just [...] demanded the execution of victims in the same manner as the supply of armies. Proscription like victories were essential to the furtherance of his principles.
  4. ^ Edward Henry Nolan, 1856, The history of the war against Russia, Vol. 5 (Illustr.), London: Virtue, p. 62, see books.google.com, accessed 18 April 2015.
  5. ^ Darren G. Lilleker, 2004, Against the Cold War: The History and Political Traditions of Pro-Sovietism in the British Labour Party, 1945-1989 (Vol. 1 of International Library of Political Studies), London, U.K.: I.B.Tauris, pp. 20f, 45f, 176f, and passim, ISBN 1850434719, accessed 18 April 2015.
  6. ^ Yaacov Ro'i, 2010, "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Culture," in The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe (online), archived from the original on July 24, 2017
  7. ^ Dawson, Joanna (7 March 2021). "Proscribed Terrorist Organisations".