/ 
E X E 
to be hung in chains oranatomifed, but not buried. To 
refcue the body of any fucli malefadtor from the cuftody 
of the flieriff after execution, is punifhable by tranfporta- 
tion for feven years. And to refcue fuel) criminal going 
to, orduringexecution, isfelony without benefit ofclergy. 
A reprieve is the withdrawing of a fentence for an inter¬ 
val of time ; whereby the execution is fufpended. This 
may be ex arbitrio judicis, either before or after judgment; 
aswhet'e the judge is not fatisfied with the verdidt, or the 
evidence is fufpicious, or the indictment is infufficient, 
or he is doubtful whether the offence be within clergy ; 
or fometimes if it be a fmall felony, or any favourable cir- 
cuinftances appear in the criminal’s character in order to 
give room to apply to the crown for either an abfolute or 
conditional pardon. Reprieves may alfo be ex ncccjjitate 
legis. If a woman quick with child be condemned eitliet* 
for treafon, or felony, fine may allege her being with 
child in order to get the execution refpited ; and there¬ 
upon the fheriff or marllial fliall be commanded to take 
her into a private room, and to impanel a jury of matrons 
to try and examine whether fhe he quick with child or 
not; and if they find her quick with child, the execution 
fliall be refpited till her delivery. But it is agreed, that a 
woman cannot demai’id fuch refpite of execution by reafon 
of her being quick with child more than once ; and that 
flte can neither fave herfelf by this means from pleading 
upon her arraignment, nor from having judgment pro¬ 
nounced againft her upon her conviction. Alfo it is faid, 
both by Staunford and Coke, that a woman can have no ad¬ 
vantage from being found with child, unlefs fhe be alfo 
found quick with child. 2 Hawk. P. C c. 51. 
Another caufe of regular reprieve is, if the offender be¬ 
come non compos between the judgment and the award of 
execution. 1 Hal. P. C. 370. For regularly though a man 
be compos when he commits a capital crime, yet if he be¬ 
comes non compos after, lie fliall not be indidted ; if after 
indictment, he fhall not be convicted ; if after conviction, 
he fliall not receive judgment; if after judgment, he fliall 
not be ordered for execution : for the law knows not but 
lie might have offered fome reafon, if in h|s fenfes, to have 
flayed thefe refpeitive proceedings. It is therefore an in¬ 
variable rule, when any time intervenes between the at¬ 
tainder and the award of execution, to demand of the pri- 
foner what he hath to allege why execution fhould not 
be awarded againft him ; and if he appears to be infane, 
the judge, in his diferetion, may and ought to reprieve 
him. The party may alfo plead in bar of execution ; 
which plea may be either pregnancy as above, or diver- 
fity of perfon, viz. that he is not the fame that was at¬ 
tainted. In this cafe a jury fliall be impanelled to try 
this collateral ilfue, namely, the identity of his perfon ; 
and not whether guilty or innocent ; for that has been 
decided before ; and in thefe collateral iffues the trial 
fliall be injlanter, and no time allowed the prifoner to make 
his defence or produce his witneffes, unlefs he will make 
oath that lie is not the fierfon attainted. Fojl. 42. Nei¬ 
ther fliall any peremptory challenges of the jury be al¬ 
lowed the prifoner; though formerly fuch challenges 
were held to be allowable whenever a man’s life was in 
queftion. Co. Lit. 157. 
EXECUTIO'NE FACIENDA, a writ commanding 
execution of a judgment, and diverfly ufed. 
EXECUTIO'NE FACIENDA IN WITHERNA- 
MIUM, a writ that lies for taking his cattle, who hath 
conveyed the cattle of another out of the county, fo that 
the flieriff cannot replevy them. Reg. Orig. 82. 
EXECUTIO'NE JUDICII, a writ diredted to the 
judge of an inferior court to do execution upon a judg¬ 
ment therein, or to return fome reafonable caufe where¬ 
fore he delays the execution. If execution be not done 
• on the firft writ, an alias fliall iffue, and apiaries with this 
claufe, v.el caitjam nobis Jignifices quaie, (He. And if upon 
this writ execution is not done, or fome reafonable caufe 
returned why it is delayed, the party fliall have an attach¬ 
ment againft him who ought to have done the execution. 
Vol. VII. No. 412. 
EXE 107 
' EXECUTIONER,./. He that puts in aft, or exe¬ 
cutes; in this fenfe executer is no more ufed.—-It is a com¬ 
fort to the executioners of his office, when they cqnfider. 
that they cannot be guilty of oppreflion. Bacon. —He that 
inflidts capital puniftmient; he that puts fo death accord 
ing to the fentence of the law.—The deluge was not fent 
only as an executioner to mankind, but its prime errand was 
to reform the earth. Woodward. —He that kills; he that 
murthers: 
Is not the cattfer of thefe timelefs deaths, 
As blameful as the executioner ? Shaktfpeare. 
I would not be thy executioner: 
I fly thee, for I would not injure thee ; 
Thou tel 1 ’ft me there is murder in mine eyes. Shah.eJ'pcarci 
The inftrument by which any thing is performed : 
All along 
Thy walls, abominable ornaments! 
Are tools of wrath, anvils of torment hung, 
Fell executioners of foul intents. Crajhaw. 
EXE'CUTIVE, adj. Having the quality of executing 
or performing.—They are the nimbleft, agil, ftrongeft in- 
ftruments, fitted: to be executive of the commands of the 
fouls. Hale. —Adtive; not deliberative ; not legiflative ; 
having the power to put in adt the laws.—Hobbes con¬ 
founds the executive with the legiflative power, though all 
weil-inftituted ftates have ever placed them in different 
hands. Swift. 
EXE'CUTIVE POWER, that branch of the Englifli 
conftitution which is veiled in the king. See the article 
Eng land, vol. vi. p. 79S. 
EXE'CUTOR,/! [exe'euteur, Fr. of executor, Lat.] One 
appointed by a man’s laft will and teftament, to perform 
or execute the contents thereof after the teftator’s deceafe ; 
and to have the difpofing of all the teflator’s fubftance ac¬ 
cording to the tenor of the will: he anfwers to the hares 
defignatus or tejlamentarius in the civil law, as to debts, 
goods and chattels of his teftator. His authority is wholly 
grounded on the will ; and may be either exprefs, or im¬ 
plied ; abfolute, or qualified; exclufive, or in common 
with others. He may be exprefsly nominated either by a 
written or by nuncupative will. Fie may be conftrudtively 
appointed merely by the "teftator’s recommending or com¬ 
mitting to him the charge of thofe duties which it is the 
province of an executor to perform, or by conferring on 
him thofe rights which properly belong to the office, or 
by any other means from which the teftator’s intention to 
inveft him with that charadter may be diftindtly inferred. 
As if a will diredts that A. fliall have the teftator 5 s per- 
fonal property after his death, and after paying his debts 
fliall difpofe of it at his own pleafure ; or declares that A. 
fliall have the adminiflration of the teftator’s goods ; this 
alone conftitutes A. an executor, according to the tenour. 
So, where the teftator, after giving various legacies, ap¬ 
pointed that his debts and legacies being paid, his wife 
fhould have the refidue of his goods, on condition that 
fhe gave fecurity for the performance of his will: this 
was held to be lufficient to make her executrix. And fo 
where an infant was nominated executor, and A. and B. 
overfeers, with this direction, that they lliouid have the 
controul and difpofition of the teftator’s effects, and fhould 
pay and receive debts till the infant came of age ; they 
were held to be executors in the mean time. 
His appointment may be either abfolute or qualified. 
It is abfolute when he is conftituted certainly, immediate¬ 
ly, and without any reftridtion in regard to the teftator’s 
effedts or limitation in point of time. It may be qualified, 
as where A. is appointed to be executor at-a given period 
after the teftator’s death ; or where he is appointed exe¬ 
cutor on his coming of age, or during the abfence of J. S. ; 
or where A. and B. are made executors, and B. is re- 
ftridted from adding during A.’s life; or where A. and 
B. are named executors, and if they will not accept the 
office, then C. and D. are fubftituted in their room; or 
F f where 
