Notwithstanding the severity of these laws, they are for the most part rigorously enforced; though a commutation satisfactory to the [Pg316] aggrieved is still permitted to release the offender.
But the offended party, if disposed to compromise, has also the privilege of accepting a commutationand releasing the murderer.
This morning I saw Madame Adélaïde, who told me that the King had just signed the commutation of Meunier's penalty.
Yet its fitness, as a commutation for other punishments, is admitted by Michaelis (though he decides against it) to be one of the most difficult questions connected with the existing state of society.
Such was slavery in its origin: a commutation for death, gladly accepted as mercy under the arm of a conqueror in battle, or as the mitigation of a judicial sentence.
Archie waited that long afternoon in the death-chamber, while Marriott at the state house pleaded with the governor for a commutation of his sentence to imprisonment for life.
Receive two months' pay and commutation for six months and eleven days as prisoner, $84.
The commutation covered half rations for the prison period at 25 cents a day.
On this an agitation was got up to obtain a commutationof the sentence of death which had been passed by the judge.
Samuel Adams, who had almost violently opposed the grant of half-pay and had been dissatisfied with the Commutation Act, now came completely over to the other side.
The army became more unpopular than ever, and during the summer and fall many town-meetings were held in New England, condemning the Commutation Act.
Such plain truths prevailed in the Boston town-meeting, which voted that "the commutation is wisely blended with the national debt.
In practise money payments came gradually to replace the performance of services through the system of "selling" works long before any formal commutation of the services took place.
At Forncett and on the manors of the Berkeley estates commutation had little part in the disappearance of labor dues.
The immediate affect of the commutation of services and similar changes at this time was to leave their social condition untouched, whatever the final result may have been.
A generation after the Black Death, the commutation of villain services and the introduction of the leasehold system had made notable progress.
Frequently the number of works sold exceeded the number performed, although formalcommutation of dues had not taken place.
This fact is ignored by historians who suppose the chief factor in the commutation movement to have been the desire of prosperous villains to rid themselves of the degrading marks of serfdom.
In the particular case under discussion the cultural policy of William of Wykeham may have suggested arrangements in commutation of labour services and rents in kind.
The rector's deviation from his original commutation agreement threw him into a rage, and he panted for an opportunity of shewing the contempt in which he held my grandfather and his threats.
What the measure of mercy was in such cases may be guessed from another sentence of commutation at Carcassonne in 1329, liberating ten penitents, among them the Baroness of Montréal.
Council of Béziers sternly orders the imprisonment of all who have overstayed the time of grace, while counselling commutation when it would entail evident peril of death on parents or children.
The pecuniary commutation for crimes which has a false appearance of lenity, had been gradually disused, and seems to have been entirely abolished by the rigour of these statutes.
Henry, therefore, introduced the practice of making a commutation of their military service for money; and he levied scutages from his baronies and knights' fees, instead of requiring the personal attendance of his vassals.
But the great scarcity of coin would render that commutation difficult to be executed, while at the same time provisions could not be sent to a distant quarter of the kingdom.
In reply to Prescott's last observations, he said that imperfection of evidence was a good ground for commutation of sentence, but none for releasing the prisoner altogether.
Several of them allowed themselves to be interviewed by pressmen, and went so far as to state that they had given their verdict with much misgiving, and hoped that a commutation of sentence would follow.
Commutation to a lighter penance is allowed to a woman, because she has a number of small children; to a man, because he has a wife and family dependent upon him.
The commutation of labor services into a money payment developed into a general commutation of virtually all services.
The villeins demanded that service to a lord be by agreement instead of by servitude, a commutation of villein service for rents of a maximum of 4d.
The King in council declared the Commutation Act void, and the parsons brought suit for their salaries.
The defendants pleaded the Commutation Act in defence; to this plea the plaintiffs demurred; and the court, as it was bound to do, gave judgment for the plaintiff on the demurrer.
If no reprieve could be obtained, no commutation of the sentence, he would speak out and set Andrew Westwood free.
And you must let me say that your own conduct during the trial makes it more improbable that any commutation of the sentence should be obtained.
The method followed is the same as that pursued on the Ordnance Survey, and with the Tithe Commutation Surveys, etc.
On the 8th of February, the Junta of Fazenda sent me a verbal communication to the effect that they would give the sum agreed upon in commutation of prize money due to the captors--in five bills, payable in five months.
We buy commutation tickets, and pay dearly for the trips back and forth.
