Punishments imposed under the system of the cognitio extra ordinem
With respect to offences that fell within the jurisdiction of the standing courts, the range of penalties that could be imposed was rather limited and, in most cases, a person found guilty of a crime was given the opportunity to avoid punishment by leaving the city before the sentence of the court was pronounced (aqua et ignis interdictio).ul During the Empire the number of penalties available to the judge in trials extra ordinem was much greater.
In determining the form and amount of punishment to be imposed the judge took into account not only the gravity of the offence and the circumstances in which it was committed but also the social class to which the offender belonged.[1029] [1030] Thus, depending on whether the offender belonged to the honestiores, i.e. the upper classes,[1031] or to the humiliores, i.e. the lower classes, different penalties could be imposed for the same offence.[1032] Among the most common punishments imposed upon members of the upper classes were expulsion (relegatio), involving the exclusion of the wrongdoer from residence in a specified territory (normally Italy and one's own province),[1033] and deportation (deportatio), usually to an island or oasis. The latter punishment was of a more serious nature and was accompanied by the loss of property and citizenship, though not of personal freedom.[1034] Other penalties included expulsion from the ordo to which the offender belonged, exclusion from civic offices[1035] and prohibition from pleading in the courts of law.[1036] When capital punishment (poena capitis') was imposed upon a member of the nobility, death was usually inflicted by decapitation.[1037] A form of punishment reserved for members of the lower classes was condemnation to forced labour in the mines (ad metalla) - the sentence might be for a fixed term or for life, and in the latter case it was accompanied by loss of liberty.[1038] Besides the mines there was also hard labour on public works (in opus publicum) or in public games (ad ludos) which was usually imposed for a fixed term and did not entail loss of personal freedom.[1039] Humiliores were liable to exacerbated forms of the death penalty, such as crucifixion, impalement and burning at the stake.[1040] Other punishments included condemnation to become a gladiator or to fight with wild beasts (dare ad bestias, condemnare ad bestias), flogging and flagellation, the total or partial confiscation of the offender's property (ademptio bonorum, confiscatio, publicatio bonorum), and various pecuniary fines (multae) which were paid to the state.[1041] Imprisonment (career) was used as a way of assuring that a person would appear for trial, but it was not regarded as a legal penalty.[1042] As to the aims of punishment, these included general deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution and the satisfaction of the victim's family.[1043]
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