Protection of Human Dignity in Case of Insult Committed by Action in Ancient Georgian Law

Abstract

     Apart from human life and health, honor and dignity are among the important values.  The violation of honor and dignity of a person can be committed by slander and insult. As for Insult, it can be committed by action, or be verbal. The subject of the research is the study of insults carried out by actions in ancient Georgian law, as actions that violate human dignity. The clarification of terms related to the mentioned issue allows for discovering what kind of actions were considered insults. In ancient Georgian Law, the term “swearing“ was used to express verbal insult.  As for insult committed by action, in addition to "insult", the terms „shaming“, „disgrace“, and „dishonor“ are used in the legal monuments. The fact of responsibility for insult is often confirmed by “dishonorable” punishment imposed by the legislator and used by the court. Determining “dishonorable” punishment as a sanction for beating or for some kind of health damage allows us to conclude that the mentioned actions were also considered insults in ancient Georgian law.

     The types and forms of insults committed by action were various and therefore they can be conditionally divided into several groups. Actions that are directly aimed to humiliate a person's dignity, for example, cutting off the beard, tearing off, tying up, removing armor, beating. Insults committed during an attack, damage to health, as an action against the honor of a person, and actions against the honor of the family can be grouped separately. At the same time, in the monuments of the ancient Georgian law and in the court rulings, there are other cases of insult committed by action.

     As punishment for an insult committed by action was mainly determined the blood price and “dishonorable” punishment. How important and valuable it is to protect the legal good, is reflected in the punishment imposed for committed action. In the old Georgian law, the sanctions established for insults committed by action were mostly equal to the punishments determined for damage to human life or serious damage to health.