BRANDING, in criminal law a mode of punishment; also a method of marking goods or animals; in either case by stamping with a hot iron. The Greeks branded their slaves with a Delta, A, for ioiXor. Robbers and runaway slaves were marked by the Romans with the letter "F" (fur, f ugitivus) ; and the toilers in the mines, and convicts condemned to figure in gladiatorial shows, were branded on the forehead for identification. Under Constan tine the face was not permitted to be so disfigured, the branding being on the hand, arm or calf. The canon law sanctioned the punishment, and in France galley-slaves could be branded "TF" (travaux forces) until 1832. In Germany, however, branding was illegal. The punishment was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, and the ancient law of England authorized the penalty. By the Statute of Vagabonds (1547) under Edward VI. vagabonds, gipsies and brawlers were ordered to be branded, the first two with a large "V" on the breast, the last with "F" for "fraymaker." Slaves, too, who ran away were branded with "S" on cheek or forehead. This law was repealed in 1636. From the time of Henry VII. branding was inflicted for all offences which received benefit of clergy (q.v.), but it was abolished for such in 1822. In 1698 it was enacted that those convicted of petty theft or larceny, who were entitled to benefit of clergy, should be "burnt in the most visible part of the left cheek, nearest the nose." This special ordinance was repealed in 1707.
Cold branding or branding with cold irons became in the i8th century the mode of nominally inflicting the punishment on prisoners of higher rank. Such cases led to branding becoming obsolete, and it was abolished in 2829 except in the case of de serters from the army. These were marked with the letter "D," not with hot irons but by tattooing with ink or gunpowder. No toriously bad soldiers were also branded with "BC" (bad char acter). By the British Mutiny Act of 1858 it was enacted that the court martial, in addition to any other penalty, may order de serters to be marked on the left side, tin. below the armpit, with the letter "D," such letter to be not less than 'in. long. In 1879 this was abolished. (See also MUTILATIONS AND DEFORMATIONS.) See W. Andrews, Old Time Punishments (Hull, 189o) ; A. M. Earle, Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (1896) .