INFALISTACIO, an ancient punishment of felons, by throwing them amongst the rocks and sands, and chiefly used in port-towns. It is the opinion of some writers, that infalistas implied some capital punishment, by exposing the malefactor upon the sand till the next tide carried him
1 Elphinstone's Account of the Kingdom of Cabul. Appendix, p. 663.
3 Burnes, Narrative of a Visit to the Court of Sinde, p. 40.
away; and of this custom, it is said, there exists an old tradition. However, the penalty seems to have taken its name from the Norman falese, or falesia, which signified not the sands, but the rocks and cliffs adjoining, or impending over the sea-shore. Commisit feloniam ob quam fuit suspensus, ut legatus vel alio modo morti damnatus, ... vel apud Dover infalistas, apud Southampton submersus.