e the pasturing of cattle in certain fields during
these months. There were also other similar uses dating from feudal times.
In modern French law the phrase _rupture de ban_ described, previous to
1885, the departure without notice of any released criminal living under
the special surveillance of the police. The French government still retains
the rights of appointing an obligatory place of residence for any criminal,
and any escape from this place is a _rupture de ban_. A Scandinavian use of
the word gives it the sense of a curse. This usage mingling with the use
which spiritual lords shared with temporal lords of issuing the ban over
their dependents, has become in a special sense ecclesiastical, and the
sentence of excommunication is frequently referred to as "under the papal
ban." The word is also used in this way by Shakespeare and Milton. The
modern English use of the phrase "under the ban" refers to any line of
conduct condemned by custom or public opinion. In its earlier and general
sense as a proclamation, the ban may be said to have been suspended by the
writ. The word, however, survives in the sense of a proclamation in the
"banns of marriage" (_q.v._).

The Persian word _ban_, meaning lord or master, was brought into Europe by
the Avars. It was long used in many parts of south-eastern Europe,
especially in southern Hungary, to denote the governors of military
districts called _banats_, and is almost equivalent to the German
_margrave_. After enjoying very extensive powers the bans were gradually
reduced, both in numbers and importance. Since 1868, however, the governor
of Croatia and Slavonia has been known as the ban of Croatia, Slavonia and
Dalmatia, but his duties are civil and not military. He is appointed by the
emperor of Austria, as king of Hungary, and has a seat in the upper house
of the Hungarian parliament.

See Du Cange, _Glossarium_, tome i. (Niort, 1883); H. Brunner, _Grundzuge
der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1901); E. P. Boutaric,
_Institutions militaires de la France_ (Paris, 1863); Pere G. Daniel,
_Histoire de la milice francaise_ (Paris, 1721).

BANANA, a gigantic herbaceous plant belonging to the genus _Musa_ (nat.
ord. Musaceae). It is perennial, sending up from an underground root-stock
an apparent stem 15 or 20 ft. high, consisting of the closely-enveloped
leaf-sheaths, the corresponding blades, each sometimes 10 ft. in length,
forming a spreading crown. A true stem develops