A penalty that past Vice-Chancellors could impose on tradesmen in the town by forbidding junior members to frequent them. The penalty was often incurred because a tradesman had allowed a student to run up a debt of more that the statutory amount without informing his tutor (who had responsibility for the student’s finances) and in such cases aimed to deter other tradesmen from making the same mistake. It was also imposed, however, for other examples of what the University saw as disreputable trading. Last used in about 1956, discommuning was abolished in March 1971.
