''Capitis deminutio'' or ''capitis diminutio'' (diminished capacity) is a term used in
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
, referring to the extinguishing, either in whole or in part, of a person's former status and
legal capacity
Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person (in this sen ...
. There were three changes of state or condition attended with different consequences: ''maxima'', ''media'', and ''minima''.
The greatest, ''capitis deminutio maxima'', involved the loss of liberty, citizenship, and family (e.g., being made a slave or
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
). ''Capitis deminutio media'' consisted of a loss of citizenship and family without any forfeiture of
personal liberty
Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...
. ''Capitis deminutio minima'' consisted of a person ceasing to belong to a particular family, without loss of liberty or citizenship.
[Thomas Mackenzie and John Kirkpatrick, ''Studies in Roman Law'', Chapter II, pp. 71–72.]
See also
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Diminished responsibility
In criminal law, diminished responsibility (or diminished capacity) is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held fully criminally liable for doing so, as their mental funct ...
Notes
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Roman law