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HANGING

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 918 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HANGING , one of the modes of See also:

execution under See also:Roman See also:law (ad furcam domnatio), and in See also:England and some other countries the usual See also:form of See also:capital See also:punishment. It was derived by the Anglo-See also:Saxons from their See also:German ancestors (See also:Tacitus, Germ. 12). Under See also:William the Conqueror this mode of punishment is said to have been disused in favour of See also:mutilation: but See also:Henry I. decreed that all thieves taken should be hanged (i.e. summarily without trial), and by the See also:time of Henry II. hanging was fully established as a punishment for See also:homicide; the " right of pitand gallows " was ordinarily included' in the royal grants of See also:jurisdiction to lords of manors and to ecclesiastical' and municipal corporations. In the See also:middle ages every See also:town, See also:abbey, and nearly all the more important manorial lords had the right of hanging. The See also:clergy had rights, too, in respect to the gallows. Thus William the Conqueror invested the See also:abbot of See also:Battle Abbey with authority to See also:save the See also:life of any criminal. From the end of the 12th See also:century the jurisdiction of the royal courts gradually became exclusive; as See also:early as 12I2 the See also:king's justices sentenced offenders to be hanged (Sold. See also:Soc. Publ. vol. i. ; Select Pleas of the See also:Crown, p. III), and in the See also:Gloucester See also:eyre of 1221 instances of this See also:sentence are numerous (See also:Maitland, pl.

72, 101, 228). In 1241 a nobleman's son, William Marise, was hanged for piracy.. In the reign of See also:

Edward I. the abbot of See also:Peterborough set up a gallows at Collingham, Notts, and hanged a thief. In 1279 two See also:hundred and eighty See also:Jews were hanged for clipping See also:coin. The See also:mayor and the See also:porter of the See also:South See also:Gate of See also:Exeter were hanged for their neglect in leaving the See also:city gate open at See also:night, thereby aiding the See also:escape of a murderer. Hanging in time superseded all other forms of capital punishment for See also:felony. It was substituted in 1790 for burning as a punishment of See also:female traitors and in 1814 for See also:beheading as a punishment for male traitors. The older and more See also:primitive modes of carrying out the sentence were by hanging from the bough of a See also:tree (" the See also:father to the bough, the son to the plough ") or from a gallows. Formerly in the worst cases of See also:murder it was customary after execution to hang the criininal's See also:body in chains near the See also:scene of his See also:crime. This was known as " gibbeting," and, though by. no means rare in the earliest times, was, according to See also:Blackstone, no See also:part of the legal sentence. See also:Holinshed is the authority for the statement that sometimes culprits were gibbeted alive, but this is doubtful. It was not until 1752 that gibbeting was recognized by See also:statute.

The See also:

act (25 Geo. II. c. 37) empowered the See also:judges to See also:direct that the dead body of a murderer should be hung in chains, in the manner practised for the most atrocious offences, or given over to surgeons to be dissected and anatomized, and forbade See also:burial except after See also:dissection (see See also:Foster, Crown Law, 107, See also:Earl See also:Ferrers' See also:case, 176o). The hanging in chains was usually on the spot where the murder took See also:place. Pirates were gibbeted on the See also:sea See also:shore or See also:river See also:bank. The act of 1752. was repealed in 1828, but the alternatives of dissection or hanging in chains were re-enacted and continued in use until abolished as to dissection by the See also:Anatomy Act in 1832, and as to hanging in chains in 1834. The last murderer hung in chains seems to have been See also:James See also:Cook, executed at See also:Leicester on the loth of See also:August 1832. The irons used on that occasion are preserved in Leicester See also:prison. Instead of chains, gibbet irons, a framework to hold the limbs together, were sometimes used. At the town See also:hall, See also:Rye, See also:Sussex, are preserved the irons used in 1742 for one See also:John Breeds who murdered the mayor. The earlier modes of hanging were gradually disused, and the See also:present See also:system of hanging by use of the drop is said to have been inaugurated at the execution of the See also:fourth Earl Ferrers in 1760. The form of See also:scaffold now in use' has under the gallows a drop constructed on the principle of the See also:trap-doors on a theatrical See also:stage, upon which the convict is placed under the gallows, a See also:white cap is placed over his See also:head, and when the halter has been properly adjusted the drop is withdrawn by a See also:mechanical contrivance worked by a See also:lever, much like those in use on See also:railways for moving points and signals.

The convict falls into a See also:

pit, 1 See See also:Pollock and Maitland vol. i. 563. The See also:sole survival of these grants is the jurisdiction of the justices of the See also:Soke of Peterborough to try for capital offences at their See also:quarter sessions. 2 In most counties in See also:Ireland the scaffold used (in 1852) to consist in an See also:iron See also:balcony permanently fixed outside the See also:gaol See also:wall. There was a small See also:door in the wall commanding the balcony and opening out upon it. The bottom of the iron balcony or cage was so constructed that on the withdrawal of a See also:pin or See also:bolt which could be managed from within the gaol, the trap-door upon which the See also:culprit stood dropped from under his feet. The upper end of the rope was fastened to a strong iron See also:bar, which projected over the trap-door. There were usually two or three trap-doors on the same balcony, so that, if required, two or more men could be hanged simultaneously. (See also:Trench, Realities of Irish Life (1869), 280.) the length of the fall being regulated by his height and See also:weight. See also:Death results not from real hanging and strangulation, but from a fracture of the cervical vertebrae. See also:Compression of the See also:windpipe by the rope and the obstruction of the circulation aid in the fatal result. Recently the noose has had imbedded in its fibre a See also:metal eyelet which is adjusted tightly beneath the See also:ear and considerably expedites death.

The convict is See also:

left hanging until life is See also:extinct. It was See also:long considered essential that executions, like trials, should be public, and be carried out in a manner calculated to impress evil-doers. Partly to this See also:idea, partly to notions of revenge and temporal punishment of See also:sin, is probably due the rigour of the See also:administration of the See also:English law. But the methods of execution were unseemly, as delineated in See also:Hogarth's See also:print of the execution of the idle apprentice, and were ineffectual in reducing the bulk of crime, which was augmented by the in-efficiency of the See also:police and the uncertainty and severity of the law, which rendered persons tempted to commit crime either reckless or confident of escape. The scandals attending public executions led to an See also:attempt to alter the law in 1841, although many protests had been made long before, among them those of the novelist See also:Fielding. But perhaps the most forcible and effectual was that of See also:Charles See also:Dickens in his letters to The Times written after mixing in the See also:crowd gathered to See also:witness the execution of the Mannings at Horsemonger See also:Lane gaol in 1849. After his experiences he came to the conclusion that public executions attracted the depraved and those affected by morbid curiosity; and that the spectacle had neither the solemnity nor the salutary effect which should attend the execution of public See also:justice. His views were strongly resisted in some quarters; and it was not until 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. C. 24) that they were accepted. The last public hanging in England was that of See also:Michael See also:Barrett for murder by causing an See also:explosion at See also:Clerkenwell prison with the See also:object of releasing persons confined there for See also:treason and felony (See also:Ann. Reg., 1868, p.

63). Under the act of 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 24), which was adapted from similar legislation already in force in the Australian colonies convicted murderers are hanged within the walls of a prison. The sentence of the See also:

court is that the convict " be hanged by the See also:neck until he is dead." The execution of the sentence devolves on the See also:sheriff of the See also:county (Sheriffs Act 1887, s. 13). As a See also:general See also:rule the sentence is carried out in England and Ireland at 8 A.M. on a See also:week-See also:day (not being See also:Monday), in the week following the third See also:Sunday after sentence was passed. In old times prisoners were often hanged on the day after sentence was passed; and under the act of 1752 this was made the rule in cases of murder. A public See also:notice of the date and See also:hour of execution must be posted on the prison walls not less than twelve See also:hours before the execution and must remain until the See also:inquest is over. The persons required to be present are the sheriff, the gaoler, See also:chaplain and surgeon of the prison, and such other See also:officers of the prison as the sheriff requires; justices of the See also:peace for the jurisdiction to which the prison belongs, and such of the relatives, or such other persons as the sheriff or visiting justices allow, may also attend. It is usual to allow the attendance of some representatives of the See also:press. The death of the prisoner is certified by the prison surgeon, and a See also:declaration that See also:judgment of death has been executed is signed by the sheriff. An inquest is then held on the body by the See also:coroner for the jurisdiction and a See also:jury from which prison officers are excluded.

The certificate and declaration, and a duplicate of the coroner's inquiry also, are sent to the See also:

home See also:office, or in Ireland to the See also:lord-See also:lieutenant, and the body of the prisoner is interred in quicklime within the prison walls if space is available. It is also the practice to See also:toll the See also:bell of the See also:parish or other neighbouring See also:church, for fifteen minutes before and fifteen minutes after the execution. The hoisting of the See also:black See also:flag at the moment of execution was abolished in 1902. The regulations as to execution are printed in the Statutory Rules and Orders, Revised ed. 1904, vol. x. (tits. Prison E. and Prison I). The act of 1868 applies only to executions for murder; but since the passing of the act there have been no executions for any other crime within the See also:United See also:Kingdom. (See further CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.) In See also:Scotland execution by hanging is carried out in the same manner as in England and Ireland, but under the supervision of the magistrates of the See also:burgh in which it is decreed to take place, and in lieu of the inquest required in England and Ireland an inquiry is held at the instance of the See also:procurator-fiscal before a sheriff or sheriff substitute (act of 1868, s. 13). The See also:procedure at the execution is governed by the act of 1868 and the Scottish Prison Rules, rr. 465-469 (Stat.

Rules and Orders, Revised ed. 1904, tit.Prison S). See also:

British Dominions beyond the Seas.—Throughout the King's dominions hanging is the See also:regular method of executing sentence of death. In See also:India the Penal See also:Code superseded the modes of punishment under See also:Mahommedan law, and s. 368 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1898 provides that sentence of death is to be executed by hanging by the neck. In See also:Canada the sentence is executed within a prison under conditions very similar to those in England (Criminal Code, 1892; SS. 936-945). In See also:Australia the execution takes place within the prison walls, at a time and place appointed by the See also:governor of the See also:state. See See also:Queensland Code, 1899, s. 664; Western Australia Code, 1901, s. 663; in these states no inquest is held. In Western Australia the governor may cause an aboriginal native to be executed outside a prison.

In New See also:

Zealand the only mode of execution is by hanging within a prison (Act of 1883). United States.—In all the states except New See also:York, See also:Massachusetts, New See also:Jersey, See also:North Carolina, See also:Mississippi, See also:Virginia, and See also:Ohio (see See also:ELECTROCUTION) persons sentenced to death are hanged. In See also:Utah the criminal may elect to be shot instead. The only countries, whose law is not of direct English origin, which inflict capital punishment by hanging are See also:Japan, See also:Austria, See also:Hungary and See also:Russia. (W. F.

End of Article: HANGING

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