Capitis deminutio is a term used in Roman trials

Roman law

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...

 referring to the extinguishing, either in whole or in part, of a person's former legal capacity.

There were three changes of state or condition attended with different consequences, maxima, media and minima. The greatest, capitis deminutio maxima, involved the loss of liberty, citizenship, and family (e.g. being made a slave or prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

). The next change of state, capitis deminutio media, consisted of a loss of citizenship and family without any forfeiture of personal liberty

Liberty

Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...

. The least change of state, capitis deminutio minima, consisted of a person ceasing to belong to a particular family, without loss of liberty or citizenship.