Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/296

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. APRIL s, me.

punishment provided by that Act, be be- headed. And this section remains in force, not being repealed by 33 and 34 Viet. c. 23, s. 31.

A form of such special death warrant I cite below from S. P. Dom. Entry Book. 78 . It is further worth remarking that the King still signs with his Royal sign manual the order for the reprieve of a capital convict.

I was guilty of a slight error in my former communication at p. 112. The Clerk of Assize delivers to the head warder, as representing the governor of the gaol, all orders respecting convicts (and separate forms are required for " penal servitude," " Borstal," and " criminal asylum " cases), except the order for execution. This he delivers to the Under - Sheriff. To the warder, however, he delivers the copy of the Calendar signed by himself, retaining in his office the duplicate signed by the judge.

The order for decapitation of a capital con- vict from S.P.D. Entry Book 78, fos. 32, 33 (original spelling retained), is as follows:

"ANNE R.

"Anne by& ca Defender of y e ffaith & ca To Our Trusty and Welbeloved S r

Griffin, Lord Benj" Green & Sir Charles

Warr 4. for Execution Peers, Kn ts, Sheriffs of our

City of London <fe County of

Midd'x. GREETING Whereas Ew d Griffin late Lord Griffin being attainted by Outlawry of High Treason for assisting and adhering to y e Enemys of our dearest Brother King W m the third of Glorious Memory was in Easter Term last past brought before Our Court of Queen's Bench and there received sen- tence as being attainted of High Treason as afore- said which by the Laws and Customs of This Our Realm is to be Drawn, Hanged & Quartered, for the Execution of which Sentence you have already received a Warrant from Us in Our said Court ; yet the said Edward Griffin now remaining in Our Tower of London at Our Will and Pleasure & by the authority of Our Power Royal to be executed in such order & form as We think most convenient, and we, minding the Execution of justice, but being graciously pleased to have the manner of the Execution altered and changed for certain Con- siderations and Causes Us especially thereunto moving and in regard the said Edward Griffin was once a Peer of this Our Realm, We will and Command you our said Sheriffs of Our City of London and County of Midlesex to receive and take from the Lieutenant of Our Tower of London or his Deputy the Body of the said Edward Griffin and forthwith to cause Execution of him to be done and executed in such manner and form as thereafter is exprest and not otherwise, That is to say That you forthwith bring the said Edward Griffin to a scaffold by you to be erected for this purpose in some convenient place on Tower Hil and the Head of the said Edward Griffin then and there forthwith upon the Scaffold cause to be cut and stricken off and clearly severed from his Body And this Execution to be done on Wednesday the 16th day of June instant, any Judgment, Law Warrant or Commandment beforetime had o:

nade, ordained or given to the contrary notwith- tanding; and hereof fail not as you will answer he same at your peril, And for so doing these our ./rs [letters] signed with Our Own Royal Hand and sealed with Our Privy Signet shall be your ufficient Warrant and Discharge in that behalf. f June 1708, In the Seventh year of Our Reign. "By Her Majesty's Command,
 * ' Given at Our Court at Kensington the 12 th day

" SUNDERLAND."

My conclusion, upon the whole, would be hat to carry into execution a sentence massed by any ordinary criminal tribunal >ursuant to common law or statute, nothing mder the Royal sign manual was necessary ;

t that where either by a reprieve and Dardon or by a commutation of the legal sentence into some other mode of punish- ment, whether extending to life or not the sentence appointed by law was varied, a Daper under the Royal sign manual has been
 * he constitutional practice.

In a further note I will send you the modern reprieve form, and, if I can light upon it, the Execution Order under the remarkable provisions of 19 Geo. II. c. 34.

The form referred to by SIB HABBY POLAND at the last reference, as given by Blackstone (Appendix to vol. iv., Form IV.), agrees with the forms in the Record Office, of which there are many in the series H.O. 26/1, &c. None bear the Royal signature, though the King did sign the free pardons.

I find that a black seal was placed to the [eft of the Recorder's signature.

EBIC R. WATSON.

In view of the recent discussion on this subject the following extract from The Morning Post of March 31, 1899, is decidedly interesting :

" A CRIME AND A SECRET STAIRCASE,

' During the work of enlarging the Royal Bull Hotel, Dartford, a hostelry dating back to the days of Wat Tyler, some interesting discoveries have been made. In 1773 a murder was committed at the house, and the body disappeared mysteri- ously. A skeleton now dug up 3ft. below the flooring of an old collar leads to the belief that it is the remains of the victim of the tragedy. This week a secret staircase has been brought to light, and as this communicates by invisible doors in the walls of the cellar with the room in which the tragedy occurred, it strengthens the belief that the body was taken down the staircase and buried. The remains are much decayed, excepting the teeth, and these are in a fairly good state of pre- servation. A day or two ago a number of death warrants, bearing the signature of Portland, Minister of George III., were found in the panels of the walls (sic) in which the murder was com- mitted. How documents of this character got into so strange a hiding-place is a matter for conjecture. One, dated June, 1798, is a good sample of how