BAN 



tlie northern part of tlie Moiirne mountain?, in the county 

 of Down, and fwelled by various little brooks, foon becomes 

 a large flreain. It takes a Terpentine courfe to the north- 

 weft, having many bridges over it, till it comes to Porta- 

 down, where it is joined by the Newrj' canal, and a few 

 miles farther it falls into Lough Neagh at Bannfoot ferry, 

 after running about thirty miles. The waters of this river, 

 which is diftiuguilhed by the name of the South or Upper 

 Bann, are efteemed fuperior to any other for the purpofe 

 of bleaching. After paffing through Lough Neagh, out 

 of which it breaks at Toome callle, where is a bridge 

 over it, it again expands into a fmall lake called Lough 

 Beg, the views in which are very pleafing. From this, (lill 

 keeping a north-weft dircftion, it pafles through a country 

 formerly overgrown with immenfe woods, then forces its 

 way over a ridge of rocks called the Salmon-leap, and hav- 

 ing again collected its fcattercd waters, rufhes with an im- 

 petuous force into the fea at Bannhaven, a few miles below 

 Coleraine. It is certainly one of the fiueft rivers in Ireland ; 

 and if we include its pafTage through the lake, runs in the 

 whole near ninety miles, with fo pure and limpid a ftrcam, 

 that it has acquired the name of " the filver Br.nn." The 

 lower or northern part of it, being the only outlet for feven 

 rivers and innumerable ftreams that pour their tributary wa- 

 ters into I^ough Neagh, is broad and rapid; but notwith- 

 ftanding this, and the ridge of rocks already mentioned, 

 it is thought that it might be rendered navigable, a meafure 

 from which great advantages are cxpetted. The falmon 

 caught in this river is very highly elletmed, and the filhery 

 is the greateft in the kingdom. (See Coleraine.) Camp- 

 bell's Political Survey. Beaufort's Memoir. Young's Tour, 

 &c. 



Bann, the name of a river in the north-eaftern part of 

 the county of Wexford, Ireland, which falls into the Slaney 

 near Ferna. 



Bann, a townfhip in the county of York, in Pennfylvania. 



Bann, or Ban, Bannum, or Bannus, in the Feudal Laiu, 

 a folemn proclamation, or publication of any thing. 



The origin of the word is uncertain : fome deduce it from 

 the Britith ban, clamour, noife ; others from the Saxon pan, 

 a thing fpread ; whence bun and band, ufed for a flag. 

 Brafton mentions bnnnus regis for a proclamation of filenee 

 anciently made by ihc court, before the encounter of the 

 champions in a combat. 



Bann is alfo uf.;d for a folemn convocation of the nobi- 

 lity of a province, to attend tlie king in his army, con- 

 fornip.bly to their i -veral tenures. 



Bann, in this fcnl ■, differs from rear-bann ; as the former 

 refpetts thofe who i old mediately of him. But the words 

 are now confounded ; and bsnn and rear-bann denote a fum- 

 mons to all the ftudrd tenants, mediate and immediate, to 

 go to war in the king's fervice. 



Bann alfo denotes the affcmbly, or body of nobility and 

 gentry thus convocateC. 



In this fenfe, thcv fay, the bann and rear-bann are long in 

 getting into the field ; the bann and rear-bann were aflembled, 

 &c. 



The French nobility appear to have ferved the king, in 

 the way of bann ar..l rear-bann, from the beginning of the 

 monarchy ; though the ufage was not regularly fettled till 

 the time of the inveftiture of fei\ds. 



Bann is more part'cubrly ufed to denote a profcription 

 or baniftiment, for a crime proved ; becaufe anciently pub- 

 lifhcd by found of trumpii : or, as Voflius thinks, becaufe 

 thofe who did not appear at the above mentioned fummons 

 were puuidicd by prolcription. 



BAN 



Hence, to pu! a pr'mce under the bann of the empire, is t» 

 declare him divellcd of all his dignities. 



The fentence only denotes an interdidl of all intercourfe 

 and offices of humanity with the offender, the form of 

 which feems taken from that of the Romans, who banilhed 

 perfons, by, forbidding them the ufe of fire and water. 



Sometimes alfo cities are put under the imperial bann ; 

 that is, ftripped of their rights and privileges. 



Bann alfo denotes a pecuniary mnl6t or penalty laid oa 

 a delinquent for offending againll a bann. 



Banns of Marriage are certain fokmn notices of matri- 

 m.onial contracts made, in the parifli-church, before the mar- 

 riagc ; that if there be any objeflions to either party as to 

 prior engagements, &c. there may be an opportunity of 

 making them. The publication of banns (popularly called 

 q/iinx in the church) was intended as an expedient to prevint 

 clandeftine marriages ; but a licence or difpenfation is now 

 cafily procured, fo'tiiat their ufc is defeated. By the laws 

 of the church, banns are to be pubhihed thrice, on three 

 diftant days, in the places where the parties live, on pain 

 of nullity of marriage ; and excommunications are threat- 

 ened againft thofe, who, knowing impediments, conceal them. 

 (But fee 26 Geo. II. cap. 33. and Map-riage.) The ufe of 

 matrimonial banns is faid to have been firft introduced in 

 the Gallican church, thoug'n fomething like it obtained 

 even in the primitive times ; and it is this Tertullian is fup- 

 pofed to mean by trinundina promulgatio. 



Bann is alfo ufed for a folemn anathema, or excommu- 

 nication, attended with curfes, &c. 



In this fenfe, we revkd o( papal banns. Sec. 



Bann of God, bannus Dei, or the judgment of Godi 

 Spelman takes it for excommunication. 



Bann is alfo ufed for a prohibition. 



In which fenfe, the bann of harveft or vintage, &c. in 

 the French cufloms, imports a prohibition to reap, or ga- 

 ther the grapes, without the leave of the lord. 



The former is now taken away, and the peafant may 

 reap his corn when he pleafes ; but the latter ftill remains, 

 peri'ons not being allowed to open the vintage till publi- 

 cation is made by the officer of the place for that purpofe. 



BANN-^/'n, in the French Cufloms, a privilege enjoyed 

 by lords, of felling the wine of their own growth, duiing 

 a certain time, exclufive of all other perfons within the 

 compafs of their fees or lordfhips. 



The fame right, in fome places, extends alfo to other 

 liquors ; and even to hogs, cows, and other animals. 



BANNALEC, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of Finifterrc, and chief place of a canton in the 

 diftriil of Quimperlc ; 2\ leagues north-weft of Quini- 

 perle. 



BANNALIS MoLA, or Bannal-mill, a kind of feudal 

 fervice, whereby the tenants of a certain dillrift are obliged 

 to carry their corn to be ground at a certain mill, and to be 

 baked at a ceitain oven, for the benefit of the lord. 



The oldeft account of fuch bannal-mills occurs in the 

 eleventh century. Fulbcrt, bi(hop of Chartres, and chan- 

 cellor of Fiance, in a letter to Richard, duke ot Normandy, 

 complains, that attempts began to be made to compel the 

 inhabitants of a part of that province to grind their corn at 

 a mill iituated at the diftance of five leagues. Vid. " Maxi> 

 ma Bibliotheca Vcterum Patrum." Lugdun. 1677, tom. 

 xviii. p. 9. Other examples of this fpecies of fervitudc, in 

 the tenth and thirteenth centuries, may be feen in Du Frrfne, 

 under *' Molendinum Bannale." Dc la Mare (Traite de la 

 Police, ii. p. iji.} gives an inftance, where a lord in affran> 



chillug 



