EXCORIATION 



3043 



EXEGESIS 



provided that no person excom- 

 municated could be imprisoned for 

 more than six months and that no 

 civil incapacity should be imposed. 



By 54 George III, c. 68. a similar 

 law was enacted for Ireland. Civil 

 penalties were abolished in Scotland 

 in 1690. In Great Britain, though 

 disciplinary jurisdiction of the 

 eccles. courts over the laity exists 

 still, it is subject to statute and 

 common law, and excommunica- 

 tion in the old sense is virtually 

 obsolete. In recent times imprison- 

 ment has been imposed only in 

 cases of ritualistic disobedience. In 

 the Scottish Presbyterian churches, 

 lesser excommunication is an affair 

 of the kirk session ; the greater 

 excommunication is a prerogative 

 of the presbytery. 



Modern cases of excommunica- 

 tion were those of Bishop Colenso 

 (q.v.), 1863, whose deposition was 

 negatived as invalid by the Judicial 

 Committee of the Privy Council in 

 1865, and of Father George Tyrrel 

 for his criticism of Pius X's ency- 

 clical against modernism (q.v.) in 

 1907. Notable excommunications 

 in earlier times were those pro- 

 nounced by Gregory VII against 

 the emperor Henry IV, 1077 ; 

 Innocent III against King John of 

 England, 1208-14; Gregory IX 

 against the emperor Frederick II, 

 1228-45 ; Julius II against Louis 

 XII of France, 1570; Leo X 

 against Luther, 1521 ; Paul III 

 against Henry VIII, 1535 ; and 

 Pius V against Elizabeth, 1570. 



Excoriation (Lat. ex, from; 

 corium, skin). Superficial destruc- 

 tion of the skin (q.v.). 



Excursion (Lat. excursio, run- 

 ning out). Popular name for a brief 

 holiday. In the United Kingdom 

 and other countries previous to the 

 Great War, the railways gave 

 special facilities to those who de- 

 sired to visit various seaside and 

 other pleasure resorts for short 

 periods. They issued excursion 

 tickets, at low rates, the day ex- 

 cursion to Brighton and back from 

 London being only 3s. The Great 

 War put an end to these excur- 

 sions, but in 1920 the running of 

 day excursion trains on certain 

 railways was resumed. Single fare 

 was charged for the double journey. 

 Thomas Cook was the pioneer of 

 the cheap excursion traffic. See 

 Railways. 



Excursion, THE. Blank verse 

 poem by William Wordsworth. 

 Published in 1814, it forms the 

 second part of a projected work in 

 three parts entitled The Recluse, 

 conceived 3.3 a philosophical poem 

 on Man, Nature and Society. 

 Wordsworth never wrote the third 

 part, but The Prelude, an intro- 

 duction, and the first book of the 



first part of The Recluse were 

 published posthumously in 1850 

 and 1888 respectively. 



Exe. River of Devon, England. 

 It rises in Somerset on Exmoor and 

 flows right across Devon, mainly 

 S., to the English Channel, which it 

 enters by a navigable estuary 6 

 m. long. Exeter stands on it, as 

 does Tiverton, while Exmouth is at 

 the mouth of the estuary. Its 

 length is 55 m. Its chief tributaries 

 are the Barle and other streams 

 that rise on Exmoor. A ship canal, 

 5 m. long, connects Exeter with 

 Topsham, from which point the 

 river is navigable. There is some 

 trout fishing in the Exe, which flows 

 mainly through wild and beautiful 

 scenery. 



Execution (Lat. exsequi, to fol- 

 low out, carry out). Act of per- 

 forming anything. It is used in 

 law (see below), and also in other 

 senses, as in executing a commis- 

 sion, or the execution of a piece 

 of music. In a special sense the 

 word has come to mean the carry- 

 ing out of a death sentence. In 

 England the death penalty was 

 carried out mainly in two ways, by 

 hanging or by beheading. The 

 former was the f a>e of the ordinary 

 offender. Beheading was reserved 

 for political offenders and persons 

 of rank. 



When, in course of time, the 

 death penalty was confined to 

 serious crime, hanging became the 

 only form. For long these execu- 

 tions were a public spectacle to 

 which thousands flocked, but in 

 1866 a royal commission recom- 

 mended that they should be carried 

 out in private, and this change was 

 quickly made. Burning and drown- 

 ing were also practised in former 

 days. In France the guillotine is 

 adopted for executions, while elec- 

 trocution has been used in the 

 U.S.A. See Capital Punishment; 

 Electrocution ; Guillotine. 



Execution. In English law, 

 term generally used to mean the 

 carrying into effect of the judge- 

 ment of a competent court. In 

 civil cases this is done by the 

 successful litigant applying to the 

 court for a writ of execution, which 

 as a rule can be had for the asking 

 at an office attached to the court. 

 Some kinds of execution, however, 

 require an order from a judge or 

 judicial officer. Execution is also 

 used in the sense of perfecting a 

 legal document by signing, sealing 

 or delivering it with all proper 

 formalities. 



Executive. Name given to a 

 body of men who carry out the 

 orders of others. In most modern 

 states there is a sharp distinction 

 between the executive and the 

 legislature ; the latter making the 



laws which the former carry out. 

 In the United Kingdom the execu- 

 tive consists of the Cabinet and the 

 various state departments under its 

 control. The local government 

 bodies have also a legislature and an 

 executive. See Cabinet ; Govern- 

 ment; Parliament. 



Executor. In English law, the 

 person or persons appointed by a 

 will to carry into execution a will as 

 the " legal personal representative " 

 of the deceased. An executor be- 

 comes the legal owner of all the de- 

 ceased's property. He must first 

 prove the will. Armed with the 

 probate copy thereof he collects the 

 property, realizes enough to pay 

 (1) funeral and testamentary ex- 

 penses ; (2) debts, crown debts 

 coming first; (3) legacies in order"; 

 and then hands over the balance to 

 the persons entitled under the will. 



If the will does not completely 

 dispose of it, the executor must 

 share the balance or residue of per- 

 sonalty amongst the next of kin ; 

 and hands the freeholds to the heir- 

 at-law. He must not dispose of 

 realty to pay debts unless specially 

 empowered by the will to do so ; or 

 unless the personalty is not enough. 

 When an executor has paid out all 

 the assets to creditors he is not 

 liable for any debts he may have 

 left unpaid, unless he has paid one 

 of a lower class of creditor, a simple 

 contract debt, before paying a 

 higher, a crown or specialty debt. 

 That is, he is not bound, as between 

 one creditor and others of the same 

 class, to pay them rateably if there 

 is not enough for all. He is al- 

 lowed a year to wind up the estate 

 before any legatee can sue him for 

 his legacy. See Will. 



Executory. Term used in Eng- 

 lish law in two senses. An execu- 

 tory contract is one which consists 

 of a promise on both sides, e.g., I 

 will make you a chair if you will 

 pay me 10 for it. An executory 

 devise or bequest is a gift of land by 

 will, without the intervention of a 

 trust, where the estate of the de- 

 visee, or the legatee if a leasehold, 

 is to arise upon a contingency. 



Exegesis (Gr., explanation). 

 Branch of study concerned with the 

 interpretation of Holy Scripture. 

 Properly including all that is con- 

 nected with the full exposition and 

 understanding of the Bible, it is 

 more commonly restricted to liter- 

 ary interpretation, which deter- 

 mines the" sense of the sacred text 

 upon the same principles that 

 would be applied to any other lit- 

 erary work. It differs from Biblical 

 criticism in taking the text as it 

 stands, and examining its meaning 

 rather than its origin and authen- 

 ticity. Being concerned not merely 

 with the precise meaning of the 



