Calumnia
(in old Latin,
Kalumnia). The Latin word for slander. It was technically
applied to false accusations. The person falsely accused, if acquitted, had the right of
accusing the prosecutor in his turn on the charge of
calumnia before the
same jury. In civil cases the penalty was a pecuniary fine; in criminal cases the
calumniator lost his right to appear again as a prosecutor, and in early
times was branded on the forehead with a K (
Pro Rosc. Am. 20, 57).