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EXE 
others came into the temple at the right hand, 
and went out at the left, the excommunicated 
were obliged both to go in and out at the 
left. 
Excommunication among the modern Jews, 
is attended with the most terrible con- 
sequences. The excommunicated person is 
refused all human assistance : if there is a 
corpse in Iris house, or a child to be circum- 
cised, none must help him. lie is cursed by 
the book of the law, by the curse of Joshua 
against Jericho, by that of Elisha against the 
children, by heaven and earth, and God is 
besought that a whirlwind may dash him to 
pieces. He is pelted with stones if he ap- 
pears in the streets ; and it he obtains abso- 
lution, it is upon the most mortifying con- ! 
ditions ; tor lie is publicly tied to a post and 
whipped, after which he lays himself down ! 
at the door of the synagogue, and all those j 
who go out, pass over him. This was the j 
very case of the famous Jew Acosta. See j 
Bayle, in the article Acosta. 
in the antient Christian church, the power i 
of excommunication, as well as other acts of ! 
ecclesiastical discipline, was lodged in the 
hands of the clergy, who distinguished it into j 
the greater and lesser. The lesser excoin- j 
munication, simply, called apofntr/j.os^ separa- J 
tion or suspension, consisted in excluding \ 
men from the participation of the eucharist, 
and the prayers of the faithful. But they j 
were not expelled the church ; for they had 
the privilege of being present at the reading 
of the scriptures, the sermons, and the pray- i 
ers of the catechumens and penitents. This ! 
excommunication was inflicted for lesser 
crimes, such as neglecting to attend the ser- 
vice of the church, and misbehaviour in it. 
The greater excommunication, called 
HMT-Xns cc<popia/j.os, total separation and anathema, 
consisted in an absolute and entire exclusion 
from the church and the participation of all 
its rites. \\ lien any person was thus excom- 
municated, notice was given of it by circular 
letters to the most eminent churches all over 
the world, that they might all confirm this act 
of discipline, by refusing to admit the delin- 
quent to their communion. The consequence 
of this latter excommunication wai very 
terrible. The excommunicated person was 
avoided in civil commerce and outward con- 
versation. No one was to receive him into 
his house, nor eat at the same table with him ; 
and when dead, lie was denied the solemn 
riles of burial. It has been a question, 
whether the antient church used to add 
execration to her censures. Grotius thinks 
this was done, though very seldom, as in the 
case of Julian the apostate, for whose de- 
struction the antient Christians absolutely 
prayed to God. St. Chrysostom was utterly 
against this practice, affirming that we ought 
not to pray against the sinner, but against 
bis opinions or actions. 
The Romish pontifical takes notice of three 
kinds of excommunication: 1. The minor, 
incurred by those who have anv corres- 
pondence with an excommunicated person. 
2. The major, which falls upon those who 
disobey the commands of the holy see, or j 
refuse to submit to certain points" of disci- 
pline ; in consequence of which they are j 
excluded from the church militant and tri- ! 
uniphant, and delivered over to the devil and ; 
his angels. 3. Anathema, which is properly i 
that pronounced by the pope against heretical j 
princes and countries. In former ages, these 
papal fulminations were most terrible things; 
but at present, they are formidable to none 
but a few petty states of Italy. 
Excommunication, in the Greek church, 
cuts the offender off from all communion 
with the 318 fathers of the first council of 
Nice, and with the saints; consigns him over 
to the devil and the traitor Judas; and con- 
demns liis body to remain after death as hard 
as a flint, or a piece of steel, unless he 
humbles himself and makes atonement for 
his sins by a sincere repentance. The form 
abounds with dreadful imprecations ; and the 
Greeks assert, that if a person dies excom- 
municated, the devil enters into the lifeless 
corpse ; and, therefore, in order to prevent 
it, the relations of the deceased cut his body 
in pieces, and boil them in wine. It is a 
custom for the patriarch of Jerusalem an- 
nually to excommunicate the pope and the 
church of Rome ; on which occasion, to- 
gether with a great deal of idle ceremony, 
he drives a-nail into the ground with a ham- 
mer, as a mark of malediction. 
Excommunication, among the pagans, ex-, 
eluded the person from the sacrifices and the 
temples, and delivered him over to the Furies, 
which was called execrare, and Diris devo- 
vere. When Marcus Crassus set out on his 
expedition against the Parthians, Atteius, tri- 
bune of the people, not being able to prevent 
him, ran to the gate of the city through 
which the general was to pass, and setting a 
chaffing-dish in the middle of the way with 
fire in it, when Crassus drew near, he threw 
some perfumes into the chaffing-dish, and 
pronounced curses against Crassus with great 
exclamation, and thus excommunicated him. 
Excommunication, in the church of 
England, is the highest ecclesiastical censure 
which can be pronounced by a spiritual judge 
against a Christian ; for thereby he is excluded 
from the body of the church, and disabled to 
bring any action, or sue any person in the 
common law courts. Co. Lit. 133. 
The sentence of excommunication was 
instituted originally for preserving the purity 
of the church ; and it seems agreed, that 
wherever the spiritual court has jurisdiction 
in any cause, and the party refuses to appear 
to their citation, or after sentence, being ad- 
monished to obey their decree, that he may 
be excommunicated. 1 Rol. Abr. 883. 
A person excommunicated is disabled to 
be a witness in any cause : he cannot be 
attorney or procurator for another ; lie is to 
be turned out of the church by the church- 
wardens, and not to lie allowed Christian 
burial. Gibs. Cod. 435. 
The sentence of excommunication can 
only be pronounced by the bishop, or other 
person in holy. orders, being a master of arts 
at least; also’ the priest’s name pronouncing 
such sentence, is to be expressed in the 
instrument issuing under seal out of the 
court. Gibs. Cod. 1095. 
EXCOMMUNICATO CAPIENDO, a 
writ directed to the sheriff, for apprehending 
him who stands obstinately'exeommunicated, 
forty days; for such an one not seeking ab- 
solution, has, or may have, his contempt 
certified into the chancery ; whence issues 
this writ, for imprisoning him without bail or 
mainprize until he conforms. 5 Eliz. c. 23. 
EXCOMMUNICATO DELIBER AN- 
DO, a writ to the sheriff, for the delivery of an 
4 Q 2 
6/5 
excommunicated person out of prison, upon 
certificate of the ordinary, of his conformity 
to the jurisdiction ecclesiastical. F. N . B. 63. 
EXCOMMUNICATO RECIPIENDO, 
a writ whereby persons excommunicated, be- 
ing for their obstinacy committed to prison, 
and unlawfully delivered thence, before they 
have. given caution to obey the authority of 
the church, are commanded to be sought for 
and imprisoned again. 
EXCORIATION, in medicine and sur- 
gery, the galling or rubbing off of the cu- 
ticle. 
EXCRESCENCE, in surgery, denotes 
every preternatural tumour which arises upon 
the skin, either in the form of a wart or 
tubercle. If they are born with a person, as 
they frequently ’are, they are called navi 
materni, or marks from the mother ; but if 
the tumour is large, so as to depend from the. 
skin like a fleshy mass, it is then called a 
sarcoma. See Surgery. 
EXCRETION, or Secretion, in medi- 
cine, a separation of some fluid, mixed with 
the blood, by means of the glands.' See 
Physiology. 
EXCRETORY, in anatomy, a term ap- 
plied to certain little ducts or vessels, des- 
tined for the reception of a fluid, secreted in 
certain glandules, and other viscera, for the 
excretion of if in the appropriated places. 
See Anatomy. 
EXECUTION is a judicial writ, grounded 
on the judgment of the court whence if. 
issues; and is supposed to be granted by the 
court at the request of the party at whose 
suit it is issued, to give him satisfaction on 
the judgment which he has obtained: and 
therefore an execution cannot be sued out 
in one court, upon a judgment obtained in 
another. Impey, K. B. 
Executions in actions where money is re- 
covered, as a debt or damages, are of five 
sorts : 1. against the body of the defendant ; 
2. against his goods or chattels ; 3. against his 
goods and the profits of his lands; 4. against 
the goods and the possession of his land; 
5. against all three, his body, lands, and 
goods. 3 Black. 414. See Capias ad sa- 
tisfaciendum, Fieri facias. Levari fa- 
cias, and Elegit. 
Execution of criminals, must be ac- 
cording to the judgment ; and the king can- 
not alter a judgment from hanging to be- 
heading, because no execution can be war- 
ranted, unless it is pursuant to the judg- 
ment. 3 Inst. 52. 
• Execution of criminals is the completion 
of human punishment; and this in all cases, 
as well capital as otherwise, must be per- 
formed by the legal officer, the sheriff' or 
his deputy. 4 Black. 405. 
EXECUTION Efacie'Nda in wither- 
namium, a writ that lies tor taking his cat- 
tle who formerly had conveyed out of the 
county the cattle of another : so that the 
bailiff, having authority from the sheriff to 
replevy the cattle so conveyed away, could 
not execute his charge. 
F.xecutione judicii, a writ which lies 
where judgment is given, in any court pf re- 
cord, and the sheriff' or bailiff neglecting to 
do execution of the judgment, the partv 
shall then have this writ directed to the saicl 
sheriff or bailiff; and if they shall not do 
execution, he" shall have an alias, and plu- 
ries. And if upon this writ execution is' 
