Pit
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
In Scotland, women sentenced to capital punishment were, in consideration of their sex, formerly drowned in a pit, instead of being hung. Hence "pit and gallows" is a phrase in old gi'ants of criminal jurisdiction, as signifying authority to drown or hang offenders.