Foyle's War - 'hanged from the neck'!

Question

'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D [/nq]
"Hanged by the neck" was the standard wording.
According to:
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging1.html
Up to 1948 the judge would say "(full name of prisoner) you will be taken hence to the prison in which you were last confined and from there to a place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead and thereafter your body buried within the precincts of the prison and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul".

A slight modification was made in 1902, removing the words â??the prison in which you were last confinedâ? and substituting â??lawful prisonâ?. Around 1947 the judiciary decided that the sentence be modified by the substitution of the words "suffer death by hanging" for "be hanged by the neck until dead" and this sentence continued to be used for those convicted of capital murder up to 1956.

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D [/nq]
[nq:1]"Hanged by the neck" was the standard wording. According to: http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging1.html[/nq]
I see on that page:
Up to 1888 the hangman supplied his own rope and pinioning straps and after the execution was also allowed to take the prisoner's clothes and retain the rope. In notorious murder cases these items could be sold for a considerable sum to Madame Tussauds wax works or to morbid members of the public.
Today they would appear on eBay.

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Up to 1888 the hangman supplied his own rope and pinioning straps and after the execution was also allowed to ... considerable sum to Madame Tussauds wax works =or to morbid members of the public. Today they would appear on eBay.[/nq]
And be fought over by the current equivalents of Madame Tussauds wax works, the media, and the morbid members of the public.

=20
Bob

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D[/nq]
Unless the criminal was a Thai of course.
Cheers
Jeff

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D [/nq]
[nq:1]"Hanged by the neck" was the standard wording. According to: http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging1.html Up to 1948 the judge would say "(full name ... and thereafter your body buried within the precincts of the prison and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul".[/nq]
OT, maybe; certainly OT this thread. Once at work I made a reference to "the Lord" and a gentile friend of mine said, "I thought since you're a Jew, you don't believe in Jesus". I said that by the Lord, I meant ***. It seemed pretty clear that he used the word to mean Jesus.
Since then, I've gotten gradually more curious about what is meant by "the Lord" when gentiles, especially Christians, use the word. What would "the Lord" mean in the sentence above?
I would ask on a Christian newsgroup, but when I've tried to ask a question in the past, the response has been dominated by sarcastic or nasty answers from anti-Christians. (Is there a ng where that wouldn't happen?)
[nq:1]A slight modification was made in 1902, removing the words ?the prison in which you were last confined? and substituting ?lawful prison?.[/nq]
This seems strange to me... No, sorry, this was the reason I first posted, but on re-reading carefully enough to ask a question, it doesn't seem strange anymore.
[nq:1]Around 1947 the judiciary decided that the sentence be modified by the substitution of the words "suffer death by hanging" for "be hanged by the neck until dead" and this sentence continued to be used for those convicted of capital murder up to 1956.[/nq]
Do capital crimes still exist in jurisdictions around the English- speaking world that don't have capital punishment? That is, do people there still use the term "capital crime", referring not just to the past but to some special category of current crime, the same ones for which the maximum penalty used to be death, even if they don't actually execute people?

Posters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
Brooklyn, NY 12 years
Baltimore 26 years

Usenet · Answer

I assume that the year "1956" just above is a typo. The death penalty was suspended in 1965 (and later partially - then totally - abolished).

The term "capital murder" was used to distinguish murder punishable by a mandatory death sentence from those for which life imprisonment could be handed down. The change was made in the Homicide Act of 1957. As I understand it, before that, all murder convictions attracted a mandatory death sentence.

See:

Before 1957, the term "capital murder" would presumably have been a tautology.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]OT, maybe; certainly OT this thread. Once at work I made a reference to "the Lord" and a gentile friend ... by "the Lord" when gentiles, especially Christians, use the word. What would "the Lord" mean in the sentence above?[/nq]
Customs may vary between individuals and groups. My knowlwdge comes from my upbringing as a Methodist in England.
My starting point is the wording used in the Christian Bible (KJV).

The OT (Old Testament, from the Jewish scriptures) uses Lord to refer to ***.
In the beginning, "***" is used exclusively until the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis. From there on the Creator is referred to as ***, the Lord and the Lord ***, etc.
In the New Testament "Lord" sometimes means *** and sometimes Jesus depending on context.
The English word "lord" means a ruler, master or superior.

One of the parables spoken by Jesus involves a servant and the servant's lord (small 'l'), the servant's master.
In the gospels some people address Jesus as Lord, others as Master (in the KJV translation).
If some Christians wish to reserve "Lord" exclusively for Jesus that is their choice. It does not compel others to do the same.

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]OT, maybe; certainly OT this thread. Once at work I ... What would "the Lord" mean in the sentence above?[/nq]
[nq:1]Customs may vary between individuals and groups. My knowlwdge comes from my upbringing as a Methodist in England. My starting ... wish to reserve "Lord" exclusively for Jesus that is their choice. It does not compel others to do the same.[/nq]
Thanks. Maybe my friend didn't really have, by his own standards, enough reason to ask me what he did. Or maybe he does use the word only one way. No harm done either way. (I changed jobs and he retired, so we've lost contact.)

Posters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
Brooklyn, NY 12 years
Baltimore 26 years

Adrenochrome · Answer

Usenet'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D

Sorry, just another example of how bad the BBC is getting! Historic fact and accuracy of detail are dead, just so long as they set their tv stories in the UK before the immigrants arrived in the 1950s. It is a racist organisation, and one that has lost all the standards it used to stand for. Shame, they used to make some really great tv.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]'sgotta be wrong - it's BY the neck - I would refuse to be hanged on a technicality! :-D[/nq]
[nq:1]Sorry, just another example of how bad the BBC is getting![/nq]
Your point would look a bit less foolish if this had been broadcast on the BBC.

(Hint: read all of the original post.)

Foyle's War - 'hanged from the neck'!

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