Legal Definitions - deminutio

Deminutio is a term originating from Roman law that refers to a deprivation or loss. It signifies a reduction, taking away, or diminution of a person's rights, status, or legal capacity.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of deminutio:

• Imagine a local government that needs to expand a public road and, through the legal process of eminent domain, acquires a portion of a private homeowner's backyard. The homeowner experiences a deminutio of their full property rights, as a part of their land is legally taken away for public use, even if they receive fair compensation.

  This illustrates deminutio because the individual is deprived of a segment of their previously held property rights and control over their land due to a legal action.

• Consider a certified public accountant (CPA) who is found guilty of serious professional misconduct, such as embezzling client funds. As a consequence, the state's accounting board revokes their CPA license. This revocation represents a deminutio of their professional capacity and their legal right to practice as a certified accountant.

  Here, deminutio is shown through the loss of a specific legal privilege and the ability to perform a professional function, imposed as a legal sanction.

• In a family law context, if a court determines that a parent has severely neglected their child and rules to terminate their parental rights, that parent experiences a deminutio. They lose the legal rights, responsibilities, and the recognized legal relationship with their child that they previously held.

  This example demonstrates deminutio as the legal deprivation of a fundamental status and the associated rights and duties of parenthood, due to a court's judgment.