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About|the criminal practicerefimprove|date=January 2010Wiktionary Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extortion|extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.
In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence.
Julius Caesar was captured by pirates near the island of Pharmakonisi|Pharmacusa , and held until someone paid 50 Attic talent|talents to free him.Plutarch, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html "The Life of Julius Caesar" in The Parallel Lives , Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919, Vol. VII, p. 445. The pirates originally demanded 20 talents, but Caesar felt he was worth more. After he was freed he came back, captured the pirates, took their money and eventually crucified all of them, a fate he had threatened the incredulous pirates with during his captivity.
In Europe during the Middle Ages , ransom became an important custom of chivalry|chivalric warfare. An important knight , especially nobility or Royal family|royalty , was worth a significant sum of money if captured, but nothing if he was killed. For this reason, the practice of ransom contributed to the development of heraldry , which allowed knights to advertise their identities, and by implication their ransom value, and made them less likely to be killed out of hand. Examples include Richard the Lion Heart and Bertrand du Guesclin .
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French rançon from Latin redemptio = "buying back":Cite EB1911|wstitle=ransom compare " wikt:redeem|redemption ".
In Judaism ransom is called kofer-nefesh (lang-he|??? ???). Among other uses, the word was applied to the poll tax of a half shekel to be paid by every male above twenty years at the census.bibleverse||Exodus|30:11-16
East Germany , which built the Inner German border to stop emigration, practiced ransom with people. East German citizens could emigrate through the semi-secret route of being ransomed by the West Germany|West German government in a process termed Freikauf (literally the buying of freedom).Buckley (2004), p. 104 Between 1964 and 1989, 33,755& nbsp;political prisoners were ransomed. West Germany paid over 3.4 billion DM& nbsp;– nearly $2.3& nbsp;billion at 1990 prices& nbsp;– in goods and hard currency.Hertle (2007), p. 117. Those ransomed were valued on a sliding scale, ranging from around 1,875& nbsp;DM for a worker to around 11,250& nbsp;DM for a doctor. For a while, payments were made in kind using goods that were in short supply in East Germany, such as oranges, bananas, coffee and medical drugs. The average prisoner was worth around 4,000& nbsp;DM worth of goods.Buschschluter (1981-10-11).
Although ransom is usually demanded only after the kidnapping of a person, it is not unheard of for thieves to demand ransom for the return of an inanimate object or body part. In 1987, thieves broke into the tomb of Argentina|Argentinian president Juan Perón and Hands of Perón|stole his hands ; they later demanded $8 million US for their return. The ransom was not paid. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/06/world/peron-hands-police-find-trail-elusive.html "Peron Hands: Police Find Trail Elusive." The New York Times , September 6, 1987. Accessed October 16, 2009.
The practice of towing|towing vehicles and charging towing fees for the vehicle's release, is often euphemism|euphemized or referred to as ransoming, especially by opponents of towing. (In Scotland, wheel clamp|booting vehicles on private property is outlawed as extortion .)
