page_title: Pillory
section_title: Uses
hierarchical_section_title: Pillory / Uses
caption_attribution_description: 18th century illustration of perjurer John Waller pilloried and pelted to death in 1732
context_page_description: The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks.
context_section_description: In 1816, use of the pillory was restricted in England to punishment for perjury or subornation. The pillory was formally abolished as a form of punishment in England and Wales in 1837, but the stocks remained in use, though extremely infrequently, until 1872. The last person to be pilloried in England was Peter James Bossy, who was convicted of "wilful and corrupt perjury" in 1830. He was offered the choice of seven years' penal transportation or one hour in the pillory, and chose the latter.
  In France, time in the "pilori" was usually limited to two hours. It was replaced in 1789 by "exposition", and abolished in 1832. Two types of devices were used:
  The poteau (another French term) was a simple post, often with a board around only the neck, and was synonymous with the mode of punishment. This was the same as the schandpaal ("shamepole") in Dutch. The carcan, an iron ring around the neck to tie a prisoner to such a post, was the name of a similar punishment that was abolished in 1832. A criminal convicted to serve time in a prison or galleys would, prior to his incarceration, be attached for two to six hours (depending on whether he was convicted to prison or the galleys) to the carcan, with his name, crime and sentence written on a board over his head.
  A permanent small tower, the upper floor of which had a ring made of  wood or iron with holes for the victim's head and arms, which was often on a turntable to expose the condemned to all parts of the crowd.
  Like other permanent apparatus for physical punishment, the pillory was often placed prominently and constructed more elaborately than necessary. It served as a symbol of the power of the judicial authorities, and its continual presence was seen as a deterrent, like permanent gallows for authorities  endowed with high justice.
  In Portugal, it is called Pelourinho, and there are monuments of great importance because they are known since the Roman times. Usually, they are located on the main square of the town, and/or in front of a major church or a palace.  They are made of stone with a column and the top carved. Pelourinhos are considered major local monuments, several clearly bearing the coat of arms of a king or queen. The same is true of its former colonies, notably in Brazil (in its former capital, Salvador, the whole old quarter is known as Pelourinho) and Africa (e.g. Cape Verde's old capital, Cidade Velha), always as symbols of royal power.
  In Spain it was called picota.
  The pillory was also in common use in other western countries and colonies, and similar devices were used in other, non-Western cultures. According to one source, the pillory was abolished as a form of punishment in the United States in 1839, but this cannot be entirely true because it was clearly in use in Delaware as recently as 1901. Governor Preston Lea finally signed a bill to abolish the pillory in Delaware in March 1905.
  Punishment by whipping-post remained on the books in Delaware until 1972, when it became the last state to abolish it.  Delaware was the last state to sentence someone to whipping in 1963; however, the sentence was commuted.  The last whipping in Delaware was in 1952.
caption: Eighteenth-century illustration of perjurer John Waller who was killed while being pilloried in London in 1732
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