The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-08-25
Capital Punishment in England.

William the Conqueror, notwithstand-
ing the ruthless. savage nature of the
man, disliked the punishment of death
in cold blood, and substituted mutila-
ton for it. Mutilation is punishment
mentioned in the assizes of Clarendon
and Northampton in the time of Henry
IT. In the reigns of Richard l., Henry
III, and Edward l., death was the pen
reigns it was the common punishment
for felony It continued to be so, as to
treason and nearly all felon1es, down to
the year 1927, until public opinion re.
volted, and an era set in OF mercy. But
ages before public sentiment rose in
rebellion against the system of barbar-
Gus severity, the English people had, in
their own practical, unsystematio way,
managed to a great extent to elude it.
First of all the clergy successfully as
serted claim to be free from the iuris-
diction of secular courts, to be subject
to the ecclesiastical courts only, which
merely enjoined clerk to purge himself
of his offense, probably by some mode
of fasting and penace.
In early times clerk was delivered up
to the ordinary as soon as he was i'm
prisoned on suspicion OF any crime what
ever. The Norman kings, especially
Henry IT,, might struggle against this
claim as much as they pleased. They
failed, and the clerk in holy orders
possessed immunity from civil punish
ment. Later on, in Edward rs time,
this immunity began to be disputed, and
clerk was not allowed to claim his
clergy until after he was convicted. The
next step was that the courts might de-
liver him up obsque purgatione, in which
case he was to bs imprisoned in the
bishops prison for life. But restric-
tion on privilege, which originally
was confined to the tonsured
clergy, was followed by a wide
extension of its application. In 1850 it
was enacted that all manner of clerks,
as well secular as religious, should
thenceforth enjoy the privileges of
Holy Church. In constituting this stat
ute the courts. ever, except in the time of
the Stuarts, on the alert in favor of lib
erty and against tyranny, extended the
| privilege to every one who could read
| whether he had the clerical dress and
| tonsure or not. All women, however,
except professional nuns, were for CEN
turies excluded from the benefit of cler-
gy, as it was called. Another grotesque
exception was that bigamus-not biga-
mist in our sense of the word, but a man
who ''hath married two wives or one
widow"-was also excluded.
In 1547 a statute was passed which
gave every peer realm, although he could
not read, privilege of similar kind.
It thus happened that, though all fel
onies were capital offenses, large pro.
portion Of offenders escaped scot free.
| They were entitled to the benefit oil
clergy and could not be punished at all
At the beginning of the eighteenth cen
tury, women and those who could moi
read were admitted to benefit of clergy
and then every one charged with clergy
able felony became liable to slight pun
ishment in lieu of death. The benefit
had always consisted in being excused
from capital punishment. and at one
time man who could read could4 ON
nit as many murders as he pleased with
impun;ty. Later, man who claimed il
was branded on the thumb, unless he
was peer or clerk in orders, and was
not allowed to claim his privilege sec
ond time. The effects of such clumsy
system--oarbarou severity on the oEe
side, hand in hand with capricious ex
emption from all punishment whatever
was as bad as possible. Yet benefit O,
clergy was a recognized privilege until
| 1927