Infamy

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Infamy \In"fa*my\, n.; pl. {Infamies}. [L. infamia, fr. infamis
     infamous; pref. in- not + fama fame: cf. F. infamie. See
     {Fame}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Total loss of reputation; public disgrace; dishonor;
        ignominy; indignity.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              The afflicted queen would not yield, and said she
              would not . . . submit to such infamy. --Bp. Burnet.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A quality which exposes to disgrace; extreme baseness or
        vileness; as, the infamy of an action.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) That loss of character, or public disgrace, which a
        convict incurs, and by which he is at common law rendered
        incompetent as a witness.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 -- a day which will live in
              infamy, . . .                         --Franklin D.
                                                    Roosevelt.

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  infamy
       n 1: a state of extreme dishonor; "a date which will live in
            infamy"- F.D.Roosevelt; "the name was a by-word of scorn
            and opprobrium throughout the city" [syn: {opprobrium}]
            [ant: {fame}]
       2: evil fame or public reputation [ant: {fame}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  57 Moby Thesaurus words for "infamy":
     abhorrence, abomination, atrocity, bad, degradation, demotion,
     depluming, desecration, detestation, discredit, disesteem,
     disgrace, disgracefulness, dishonor, displuming, disrepute,
     egregiousness, error, evil, hatred, heinousness, ignobility,
     ignominiousness, ignominy, ill fame, ill repute, infamousness,
     ingloriousness, iniquity, knavery, loathsomeness, loss of honor,
     monstrosity, notoriety, notoriousness, obliquity, obloquy, odium,
     opprobrium, outrage, peccancy, pity, profanation, reprobacy,
     revulsion, sacrilege, scandal, shame, shamefulness, sin, stigma,
     terrible thing, vileness, villainy, violation, wickedness, wrong
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  INFAMY, crim. law, evidence. That state which is produced by the conviction 
  of crime and the loss of honor, which renders the infamous person 
  incompetent as a witness. 
       2. It is to be considered, 1st. What crimes or punishment incapacitate 
  a witness. 2d. How the guilt is to be proved. 3d. How the objection 
  answered. 4th. The effect of infamy. 
       3.-1. When a man is convicted of an offence which is inconsistent 
  with the common principles of honesty and humanity, the law considers his 
  oath to be of no weight, and excludes his testimony as of too doubtful and 
  suspicious a nature to be admitted in a court of justice to deprive another 
  of life, liberty or property. Gilb. L. E. 256; 2 Bulst. 154; 1 Phil. 23; 
  Bull. N. P. 291. The crimes which render a person incompetent, are treason; 
  5 Mod. 16, 74; felony; 2 Bulst. 154; Co. Litt. 6; T. Raym. 369; all offences 
  founded in fraud, and which come within the general. notion of the crimen 
  falsi of the Roman law; Leach, 496; as perjury and forgery; Co. Litt. 6; 
  Fort. 209; piracy 2 Roll. Ab. 886; swindling, cheating; Fort. 209; barratry; 
  2 Salk. 690; and the bribing a witness to absent himself from a trial, in 
  order to get rid of his evidence. Fort. 208. It is the crime and not the 
  punishment which renders the offender unworthy of belief. 1 Phill. Ev. 25. 
       4.-2. In order to incapacitate the party, the judgment must be proved 
  as pronounced by a court possessing competent jurisdiction. 1 Sid. 51; 2 
  Stark. C. 183; Stark. Ev. part 2, p. 144, note 1; Id. part 4, p. 716. But it 
  has been held that a conviction of an infamous crime in another country, or 
  another of the United States, does not render the witness incompetent on the 
  ground of infamy. 17 Mass. 515. Though this doctrine appears to be at 
  variance with the opinions entertained by foreign jurists, who maintain that 
  the state or condition of a person in the place of his domicil accompanies 
  him everywhere. Story, Confl. Sec. 620, and the authorities there cited; 
  Foelix, Traite De Droit Intern. Prive, 31; Merl. Repert, mot Loi, Sec. 6, n. 
  6. 
       5.-3. The objection to competency may be answered, 1st. By proof of 
  pardon. See Pardon. And, 2d. By proof of a reversal by writ of error, which 
  must be proved by the production of the record. 
       6.-4. The judgment for an infamous crime, even for perjury, does not 
  preclude the party from making an affidavit with a view to his own defence. 
  2 Salk. 461 2 Str. 1148; Martin's Rep. 45. He may, for instance, make an 
  affidavit in relation to the irregularity of a judgment in a cause in which 
  he, is a party, for otherwise he would be without a remedy. But the rule is 
  confined to defence, and he cannot be heard upon oath as complainant. 2 
  Salk. 461 2 Str. 1148. When the witness becomes incompetent from infamy of 
  character, the effect is the same as if he were dead and if he has attested 
  any instrument as a witness, previous to his conviction, evidence may be 
  given of his handwriting. 2 Str. 833; Stark. Ev. part. 2, sect. 193; Id. 
  part 4, p. 723. 
       7. By infamy is also understood the expressed opinion of men generally 
  as to the vices of another. Wolff, Dr. de la Nat. et des Gens, Sec. 148.