Legal Definitions - proscription

Proscription refers to the act of officially forbidding something, or the state of being forbidden. It can also refer to the specific rule, law, or order that imposes such a prohibition or restriction.

Here are some examples to illustrate this term:

• Imagine a city council passes a new ordinance that proscribes the use of single-use plastic bags by all retailers within the city limits. This means it is now officially forbidden for stores to provide these bags to customers.

  This illustrates proscription because the city council's action is an official act of prohibiting a specific item. The ordinance itself serves as the prohibition, making the use of single-use plastic bags a restricted activity.

• A university's student code of conduct includes a proscription against plagiarism, stating that submitting someone else's work as your own is strictly forbidden and will result in disciplinary action.

  This example demonstrates proscription as the university's code of conduct explicitly forbids a particular academic behavior (plagiarism). The rule acts as a restriction, making it clear that such an action is not allowed.

• Following a cybersecurity breach, a company issues a new policy that includes a strict proscription against employees downloading any unauthorized software onto company-issued devices.

  Here, the company's new policy is a proscription because it officially forbids a specific action (downloading unauthorized software) to protect its digital assets. The policy itself is the restriction put in place to prevent future security incidents.