Free US Law Dictionary

Ransom

Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved. Holding people for ransom has occurred throughout history. In 78 BC, pirates of modern-day Turkey captured Julius Caesar and held him on Pharmacusa until someone paid a fee for him. It also refers to demanding concessions from a person or organization by threatening damaging action.

In Europe during the Middle Ages, ransom became an important custom of chivalric warfare. An important knight, especially nobility or royalty, was worth a significant sum of money if captured, but nothing if he was killed. For this reason, the practice of ransom contributed to the development of heraldry, which allowed knights to advertise their identities, and by implication their ransom value, and made them less likely to be killed out of hand.

When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French rançon from Latin redemptio = "buying back": compare "redemption".

In Christianity, ransom is the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which made deliverance from sin and death possible for the offspring of Adam.

In the popular imagination, ransom notes (i.e. letters sent by the captors to those who they expect to pay up) are constructed from letters cut from newspapers to stop anyone from recognising the handwriting of the extortionist.

In typography, and later in computing lore, the ransom note effect occurs when a document uses too many fonts.

In school athletics, a school's mascot is sometimes kidnapped, and the ransom payment is usually a contest like a football game.