Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/106

Rh P I L P I L appear that it had not always been customary to sub ject women to this form of punishment; for them the thew or the tumbrel, which latter was probably the same as the ducking or cucking stool often spoken of in the early English laws in conjunction with the pillory, was reserved. These varieties are all reducible, however, to the simplest form of the pillory as ordinarily known, which consisted of a wooden post and frame fixed on a platform raised several feet from the ground, behind Lich the culprit stood, his head and his hands being thrust through holes in the frame so as to be exposed in front of it. This frame in the more complicated forms of the instrument consisted of a perforated iron circle or carcan (hence the French name), which secured the heads and hands of several persons at the same time. In the statutes of Edward I. it is enacted that every pillory or stretch-neck should be made of convenient strength so that execution might be done on offenders without peril of their bodies. It was customary to shave the heads wholly or partially and the beards of men, and to cut off the hair and even in extreme cases to shave the heads of female culprits. Some of the offences punished in England by the pillory will be found enumerated in the statute 51 Hen. III. c. 6 (1266), comprehending chietty indictable offences not amounting to felony (commonly called misdemeanours), such as forestalling and regrating, using deceitful weights and measures, perjury or suborna tion of perjury, libel, seditious writings, &c. Later on, the punishment of the pillory was ordained for courtesans, common scolds, and brawlers and other like delinquents both male and female, and in the later years of its exist ence, notably during the 17th and 18th centuries, it was much resorted to as a punishment for political offenders, who on some occasions experienced the roughest treatment at the hands of the mob, ill-usage resulting in some instances on record even in death. The intention of setting a criminal in the pillory was that he should become infamous and known as such afterwards by the spectators. Examples have not been wanting, however, in which much sympathy has been both felt and expressed by the populace for the individual subjected to this punishment. The duration of the punishment was usually assigned at the discretion of the judge who passed the sentence, though sometimes it was fixed by law. The form of the judgment was that the defendant should &quot;be set in and upon the pillory&quot;; he was consequently said to stand in the pillory, not at it. The pillory was abolished in Britain, so far as related to all offences save perjury and subornation, in 1816 (5G Geo. III. c. 138), and finally altogether by statute 7 Will. IV. and 1 Viet. c. 23 in 1837. In the former Act power had been reserved to the court to pass sentence of fine or imprisonment or both in lieu of the pillory. The punish ment was done away with in France in 1832 upon the revision of the penal code, and has now indeed been with drawn from most of the modern systems of penal law. PILOT. The English Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 (17 & 18 Viet. c. 104) defines a pilot as being a person duly licensed by any pilotage authority to conduct ships to which he does not belong as one of the crew. Pilots are in fact taken on board to superintend the steering of the vessel, where the navigation is difficult and dangerous, in consequence of their special knowledge of particular waters ; and it is to this class alone that the term now applies, whereas in early times the pilot was the steersman, or the individual who conducted the navigation of a ship across the ocean and out of sight of land. The word seems to be of Dutch origin, and to mean primarily a person who conducts a ship by the sounding line (peillood). Cowell (Law Diet.), describing lodemanage, speaks of it as the hire of a pilot for conducting a vessel from one place to another, a lodesman (Ang. Sax. Idd-man, a leader) being a pilot for harbour and river duty. During the period of his charge the whole responsibility of the safe conduct of the vessel devolves upon the pilot. Most systems of maritime law have made the employment of pilots compulsory, though this does not usually apply to ships of war. One effect of neglect or refusal on the part of the master of a ship to take a pilot is to discharge the insurers from their liability. 1 Excepting under extraordin ary circumstances (such as where it is evident that he is acting rashly or is intoxicated, or is palpably incompetent) a master would not be justified in interfering with the pilot in his proper vocation. In England, societies or corporations have long been established for the appoint ment and control of pilots in particular localities ; and of these the Trinity House, London, owing to the number of the pilots under its control, and the large extent of its jurisdiction, may be deemed the principal. The laws re lating to pilotage were consolidated by 48 Geo. III. c. 104 (1808), which was amended by 6 Geo. IV. c. 125 (1825) ; further regulations were made by 16 & 17 Viet. c. 129 (1853), which incorporated the Cinque Ports with the Trinity House pilots ; and all existing regulations on the subject were embodied in the Merchant Shipping Act 17 & 18 Viet. c. 104 (1854), already referred to, from which pilotage authorities within the United Kingdom derive their jurisdiction, and which regulates their powers, the licensing of pilots and their rights, privileges, liabili ties, and remuneration (Maude and Pollock, Law of Mer chant Shipping, 1861). The laws of pilotage in the United States are regulated by the individual States according to the Acts of Congress. PILOT-FISH (Naucrates ductor), a pelagic fish of the family of Horse-Mackerels, well known to sailors from its peculiar habit of keeping company with ships and large fishes, especially sharks. It occurs in all tropical and sub-tropical seas, and is common in the Mediterranean, but becomes scarcer in higher latitudes. In summer pilots will follow ships as far north as the south coast of Eng land into port, where they are generally speedily caught. This habit was known to the ancients, who describe the Pilot fish. Pompilits as a fish which points out the way to dubious or embarrassed sailors, and by its sudden disappearance indi cates to them the vicinity of land ; the ancient seamen of the Mediterranean regarded it therefore as a sacred fish. That the pilot follows sharks is an observation of much later date, which first appears in works of travel of the 17th century, the writers asserting that the shark never seizes the pilot-fish, and that the latter is of great use to its big companion in conducting it and showing it the way to its food. It is, however, extremely doubtful whether the pilot s connexion with a shark serves a more special purpose than its temporary attachment to a ship. It accompanies both on account of the supply of food which it derives from them, picking up the crustaceans, cirripeds, 1 In a measure before parliament in 1884, but not passed, it was contemplated to wholly abolish compulsory pilotage, releasing owners or masters of ships not employing pilots from all pilotage dues or rates and from any penalty for not employing a pilot.