Executor

“ And be it [further] enacted, That where any suit shall be depending in any court of the United States, and either of the parties shall die before final judgment, Executor or administrator may prosecute and defend. the executor or administrator of such deceased party who was plaintiff, petitioner, or defendant, in case the cause of action doth by law survive, shall have full power to prosecute or defend any such suit or action until final judgment ”

“ I [Pg 236] was anxious to see him, from the fact that, in accordance with instructions from the maker of the above-named will, the executor had employed him and his son, a young lawyer who had recently opened an office in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to defend the will in a suit that had already been instituted in the Circuit Court. I did not find the distinguished Congressman at home, but was so fortunate as to meet and spend the night with his son. ”

“ Besides, the reports of the courts of the United States furnish ample evidenee of the constant practice of bringing suits against executors and administrators, and to cite these cases would be a work of supererogation, because it would be to demonstrate what cannot be denied. Nor does it seem to have been thought, in any instance, that judgments thus rendered could not be executed; and certainly an execution is necessary to the beneficial exercise of the jurisdiction. An execution is said to be the end of the law, and it gives to the successful party the fruits of his judgment. ”

“ For the execution of his will, and with the unequivocal intent of increasing his real estate, after his death, the testator appoints executors, to whom he gives the seisin of all his personal estate, corporeal and incorporeal, and clothes them with the most extensive powers, without the interference of judicial or extrajudicial authority. ”

“ Thus much for famous citizens have I noted their charitable actions, for the most part done by them in their lifetime. The residue left in trust to their executors. I have known some of them hardly (or never) performed, wherefore I wish men to make their own hands their executors, and their eyes their overseers, not forgetting the old proverb:
“Women be forgetful, children be unkind, Executors be covetous, and take what they find. ”

“ Nor can the judgment of the Court of Claims be supported by that court's statement that the executors were engaged 'in the business of conserving the estate and protecting its income.' Such activities are the traditional duty of executors. Executors who engage actively in trade and business are the exception and not the rule. ”

“ When the power is given to executors, to be executed in their official capacity of executors, and there are no words in the will warranting the conclusion, that the testator intended, for safety or some other object, a joint execution of the power; as the office survives, the power ought also to be construed as surviving. ”

“ The said Penalties to be recovered by the Prisoner or Party grieved, his Executors or Administrators, against such Offender, his Executors or Administrators, by any Action of Debt, Suit, Bill, Plaint or Information, in any of the King's Courts at Westminster, wherein no Essoin, Protection, Priviledge, Injunction, Wager of Law, or stay of Prosecution, by Non vult ulterius prosequi, or otherwise, shall be admitted or allowed, or any more than one Imparlance. (4.) And any Recovery or Judgment at the Suit of any Party grieved, shall be a sufficient Conviction for the first Offence ”

“ The title thus obtained did not devolve on Glass in the same manner as the law devolves title by its own operation on an executor, an administrator, an heir, a universal legatee, or a receiver, but was transferred by the sale and the adjudication. The purchaser at sales on judgment and execution similarly obtains title through the act of the executive officer. ”

“ I find that that legal estate is in his hands, and therefore any money that is produced by the sale or mortgage of that legal estate is subject to and chargeable with the payment of debts and legacies; and that therefore the money coming into his hands must be money which ought to be applied to the payment of debts and legacies. But then I find that he himself is an executor of the testator; that he himself is the person who ought to hold assets impressed with the liability to satisfy debts and legacies. ”

“ We wish our testamentary executors to use every means to put themselves in possession of our fortune remaining in our Duchy of Brunswick, in Hanover, in Prussia, in America, or elsewhere. 7. We make as a condition that our executors respect and execute all the codicils and legacies which we have the intention to make in favour of our surroundings. ”

“ Ask those who, like the proprietor, started this matter, and those who, like the judges, handed down a formally legal, but obviously unjust decision, and those who ordered the enforcement of the decree, and those who, like the soldiers, the policemen, and the peasants, will with their own hands carry it into execution,—who will beat and kill their brothers,—all of them, the instigators, and the accomplices, and the executors, and the abettors of these crimes, and all will give you essentially the same answer. ”

“ And I charge my said Executors, as they will answer before God at the dredfull day of Judgement, and as they will avoyde such commynacyons, threatnyngs, and the severe justice of God pronounc’d and executed against such as are brekers and violaters of wills and testaments, that they to the uttermost of ther powers and wyttes, shall see this my present Testament & last will perform’d and executed, for the which I trust, God shall reward them, and the world commend them. ”

“ Execution is obtaining possession of anything recovered by judgment of law. Extent is a writ of execution at the suit of the crown, which extends over all the defendant's lands and other property, in order to satisfy a bond, engagement, or forfeit. Exigent is a writ requiring a person to appear; and lies where the defendant in an action cannot personally be found, or on anything of his in the country, whereby he may be distrained. Scire facias is a writ to enforce the execution of judgment. ”

“ Technically, the word is used in law in the execution of a deed (its formal signing and sealing) , an execution (see below) by the sheriff’s officers under a “writ of execution” (the enforcement of a judgment on a debtor’s goods) ; and execution of death has been shortened to the one word to denote Capital Punishment (q.v.) .
Civil Execution may be defined as the process by which the judgments or orders of courts of law are made effectual. In Roman law the earliest mode of execution was the seizure, legalized by the actio per manus injectionem, of the debtor as a slave of the creditor. ”

“ An execution is the fruit and end of the suit, and is very aptly called the life of the law. The suit does not terminate with the judgment; and all proceedings on the execution, are proceedings in the suit, and which are expressly, by the act of Congress, put under the regulation and control of the Court out of which it issues. It is a power incident to every Court from which process issues, when delivered to the proper officer, to enforce upon such officer a compliance with his duty, and a due execution of the process, according to its command. ”

“ You are of opinion that the justice of an execution consists, not in the extent of the sufferer's crime, or in his having merited punishment, or in the wholesome and salutary effect which that example is likely to produce upon other evil-doers, but hold that it rests solely in the robe of the judge, the height of the bench, and the voice of the doomster? ”

“ In law, whether it be criminal or civil, execution always follows judgment, and someone must suffer. When you see the judge on his bench, you see through him, as clearly as if he were made of glass, the policeman to emprison, and the soldier to slay some actual living person. ”

“ If this be true, from my soul I pity you; and while you have my sympathies, I am, nevertheless called upon to pass the sentence of the court. The time between this and your execution, will necessarily be very short; and your only hope must be in another world. The judgment of the court is, that you be taken hence to the jail from whence you came, thence to the place of execution, and on Friday next, between the hours of 10 A. M. and 2 P. M. be hung by the neck until you are dead! dead! dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul. ”

“ A treatise of the execution of justice, wherein is clearly proved that the execution of judgment and justice is as well the people's as the magistrate's duty, and if the magistrates pervert judgment the people are bound by the law of God to execute judgment without them and upon them. 1663.
For printing this book, John Twyn of London, stationer, was tried at the Old Bailey on February 20th, 1663, and being convicted received sentence as in cases of high treason, and was executed accordingly. ”

“ The lord high steward then informed the prisoner that he had been indicted of murder by the Grand Jury for the county of Middlesex, on which indictment he would now be tried; and proceeded—
Your lordship is called to answer this charge before the whole body of the house of peers as assembled in parliament. It is a great misfortune to be accused of so heinous an offence, and it is an addition to that misfortune, to be brought to answer as a criminal before such an assembly, in defence of your estate, your life, and honour. ”

“ N. Y. § 528, which provides that, 'when the judgment is of death, an appeal to the court of appeals stays the execution, of course, until the determination of the appeal;' and it was also held that, under the statute providing for execution by electricity, a warrant which directed that execution be done by putting defendant to death in the mode, manner, and way, and at the place, by law prescribed and provided, was sufficient. ”

“ This office judgment has no force in itself, further than to speed the final judgment. It stands over, like other causes, triable on an issue. When it is reached on the docket in due course, a jury inquires of damages; or if the sum be certain, then a regular and binding judgment is entered of record by the court.
An execution is uniformly awarded in terms by the final judgment, and to which the execution on its face refers, by a brief recital. ”

“ No man can express the surprise of the physician, when he heard the sentence of death pronounced against him. Sir, says he, why would your majesty take away my life? What crime have I committed? I am informed by good hands, replies the king, that you come to my court only to attempt my life; but, to prevent you, I will be sure of yours. Give the blow, says he to the executioner, who was present, and deliver me from a perfidious wretch, who came hither on purpose to assassinate me. ”

“ I am a servant of the public, as also are the sheriffs, the governor, and the other officials connected with an execution, and the public, through its representatives on the press, ought to have some assurance that the details of each execution are carried out decently and in order. The presence or absence of the press, of course, makes no difference in the conduct of the execution, but it makes a good deal of difference to a certain section of the public. ”

“ And farther I am to inform you, that in case the jury then to try your lordship should find you guilty, the right honourable the Lord Chief-Justice will, in passing sentence of death upon you, fix the day of execution for the 10th day of ———, being one calendar month from the day of your trial."
It was signed by
"Caleb Searcher,
"Officer of the Crown Solicitor in the
"Kingdom of Life and Death."
The Judge glanced through the parchment.
"'Sblood! Do they think a man like me is to be bamboozled by their buffoonery?" ”

“ Non-execution, or wrong execution, is no forfeiture. It is the most tender and important of all trusts; yet no crimes, how heinous or black soever, will disqualify a man from holding and executing it. ”

“ If it is murder even in a lawful magistrate to execute an offender otherwise than in the place, time, and manner which the judges’ sentence prescribes, what must it be in you, who have no warrant for interference but your own wills? ”

“ The awarding of an execution in England is a judicial act, and the forms of all of our judgments in Tennessee award an execution in pursuance of the English practice; until the rendition of the judgment the issuance of an execution would be a void act, and would have no foundation on which to rest. ”

“ It may certainly afford matter of speculation that in civil causes there should be such a variety of writs of execution to recover a trifling debt, issued in the king's name, and under the seal of the court, without which the sheriff cannot legally stir one step; and yet that the execution of a man, the most important and terrible task of any, should depend upon a marginal note. ”

“ I am not ashamed of my calling, because I consider that if it is right for men to be executed (which I believe it is, in murder cases) it is right that the office of executioner should be held respectable. Therefore, I look at hanging from a business point of view.
When I first took up the work I was in the habit of applying to the Sheriff of the County whenever a murderer was condemned to death. I no longer consider it necessary to apply for work in England, because I am now well known, but I still send a simple address card, as above, when an execution in Ireland is announced. ”

“ It has been done. There is a case of a judge who sentenced a man to death and allowed the execution to take place, notwithstanding that he—the judge—had actually seen the murder committed by another man. ”