ASYLUM

ASYLUM, or Asylum, a Sanctuary; or Place of Refuge and Protection, where a Criminal who shelters himself is deemed inviolable, and not to be touched by any Officer of Justice. See REFUGE, PRIVILEGE, etc.
The Word Asylum is Latin: Servius derives it from the Greek ἄσυλος; which is compounded of the privative particle ἀ-, and συλάω, to seize; because no Person could be taken out of an Asylum without Sacrilege. See SACRILEGE. The first Asylums were established at Athens, by the Descendants of Hercules, to shelter themselves from the fury of his Enemies. See HERCULES.
The Altars, Statues, and Tombs of Heroes, were, anciently, the ordinary Retreat of those who found themselves aggrieved by the Rigour of the Laws, or oppressed by the Violence of Tyrants: But of all others, Temples were held the most sacred and inviolable Refuge. It was supposed that the Gods took upon them to punish the Criminal who thus threw himself upon them; and it had been a great Impiety in Man to take Vengeance out of the Hands of the Immortals. See ALTAR, TEMPLE; TOMB, STATUE, etc. The Israelites had their Cities of Refuge, which were of God's own Appointment; where the Guilty, who had not committed any deliberate Crime, found Safety and Protection—As to the Heathens, they allowed Refuge and Impunity, even to the vilest and most flagrant Offenders, for the sake of peopling their Cities; and it was by this means, and with such Inhabitants, that Thebes, Athens, and Rome, were first stocked—We even read of Asylums at Lyons and Vienne among the ancient Gauls; and there are some Cities in Germany which still preserve the ancient right of Asylum. Hence, on the Medals of several ancient Cities, particularly in Syria, we meet the inscription, ΟΑΣΥΛΟΙ, to which is added, ΙΕΡΑΙ.
For Instance, ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΣ ΕΙΔΟΩNΟΣ IΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ.— This Quality of Asyla was given them, according to M. Spanheim, in regard of their Temples, and of the Gods revered by them. The same Qualities has also been given to Deities: Thus Diana of Ephesus is called ἄσυλος.—Add, that the Camp formed by Romulus and Remus, and which afterwards became a City, was first called Asylum; and a Temple was therein erected to the God Asylaeus, Οξυγ άσυλος.
The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius granting these Immunities to Church-yards, the Bishops and Monks laid hold of a certain Tract or Territory, without which they fixed the Bounds of the Secular Jurisdiction: And so well did they manage their Privileges, that Convents, in a little time, became next akin to Fortresses; where the most glaring Villains were in Safety, and braved the Power of the Magistrate. See CHURCH-YARD. These Privileges, at length, were extended not only to the Church-yards, but also to the Bishop’s Houses, whence the Criminal could not be removed without a legal Assurance of Life, and an entire Remission of the Crime.—The Reason of the Extension was, that they might not be obliged to live altogether in the Churches, etc. where several of the Occasions of Life could not be decently done.
But, at length, the Asylum, or Sanctuaries, were stripped of most of their Immunities, in regard they served to make Guilt and Licentiousness more daring and bold-faced. In England, particularly, they were entirely abolished. See the Article SANCTUARY.