Exile

Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suffer exile, but sometimes social entities like institutions (e.g. the papacy or a government) are forced from their homeland.

In Roman law, exsilium denoted both voluntary exile and banishment as a capital punishment alternative to death. Deportation was forced exile, and entailed the lifelong loss of citizenship and property. Relegation was a milder form of deportation, which preserved the subject's citizenship and property.

The term diaspora describes group exile, both voluntary and forced. "Government in exile" describes a government of a country that has relocated and argues its legitimacy from outside that country. Voluntary exile is often depicted as a form of protest by the person who claims it, to avoid persecution and prosecution (such as tax or criminal allegations), an act of shame or repentance, or isolating oneself to be able to devote time to a particular pursuit.

Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."

Internal exile is a form of banishment within the boundaries of one's homeland, but far away from home. An example is the system of Katorga in Russia.

Banishment was used as a punishment in ancient societies such as Babylon, Greece and Rome. It is stipulated as the punishment for incest with one's daughter in the Code of Hammurabi, for manslaughter in Mosaic law, for murder in Athens according to Draco's homicide law, and for rape according to the ancient Indian text Manusmriti. A special form of banishment known as ostracism was practiced in Athens, in which citizens could vote for the expulsion of any citizen for ten years. Ostracism did not entail the loss of property or citizenship, and the ostracized person could return after ten years without disgrace or further penalty. Banishment was the punishment for a variety of offenses in Ancient Rome. In Roman law, exsilium denoted both voluntary exile and banishment as a capital punishment alternative to death. When allowed as an alternative to death, it was accompanied by an administrative decree called interdictio aquae et ignis ("interdiction of water and fire"), which declared the offender an outlaw, allowing any person who encountered him or her within the borders of the country to kill him or her. Deportation was forced exile, and entailed the lifelong loss of citizenship and property. Relegation was a milder form of deportation, which preserved the subject's citizenship and property. The Tang Code of 7th-century China lists a number of crimes punishable by banishment.

Exile was also imposed as a punishment in many societies in medieval Europe. Germanic peoples such as the Franks and Danes are known to have used it. In England, it can be traced back to the 12th century. At that time, a criminal could be allowed to claim sanctuary in a church; if they confessed to their crimes within forty days and took an oath to leave the country and not return without royal permission, they would be allowed to safely go into exile. This practice was abolished by King James I in 1623. Banishment was also a common punishment in the Netherlands: from 1650 to 1750, at least 97 percent of non-capital sentences passed in Amsterdam included some form of banishment. In 1597, the English parliament empowered magistrates to deport "rogues and vagabonds 'beyond the seas'", and in 1615 James I permitted the pardoning of felons on condition of banishment to the Americas. However, it was only after the passing of the Transportation Act of 1718 that banishment to British colonies overseas, termed "transportation", began to be applied systematically as a punishment for serious crimes. Hundreds of convicts were transported annually to the colonies and sold as servants. About 50,000 people were subjected to the punishment throughout the 18th century, including more than two-thirds of all felons convicted at London's main criminal court, Old Bailey, were transported. The practice of transportation in Britain continued well into the 19th century. France also employed banishment to colonies as a punishment, but on a smaller scale than Britain; it was in use to a limited extent until the mid-20th century. The Russian Empire and Qing China used exile as a means to populate frontier territories. Prison colonies became obsolete as the amount of habitable unsettled territory in the world decreased, and prisons became the normal method for dealing with convicts.

Banishment was frequently used as a punishment in the Thirteen Colonies, but it fell into disfavor under the United States. There is no federal law in the United States controlling banishment as a punishment. In the case Cooper v. Telfair (1800), the US Supreme Court established that legislatures have the right to confiscate the property of and banish individuals who take up arms against the United States. At least one legal scholar has argued that this Supreme Court ruling "offered a definitive ruling on the legality of banishment." However, another scholar has argued that this reasoning cannot be easily used in the case of ordinary offenses, "where the security of the country is not at stake." Some US states allow intrastate banishment, although the practice is rare and its legality and constitutionality in many US jurisdictions has been described as "still an open question" by one scholar. Interstate banishment (i.e., expulsion from one US state to another) has been allowed in the United States only in isolated instances.