Reprieve
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 242 U.S. 27 - Ex parte United States · 1916Most cited · 1,084 citing opinions
A reprieve (from reprendre, to take back), is the withdrawing of a sentence for an interval of time; whereby the execution is suspended. This may be, first ex arbitrio judicis; either before or after judgment; as, where the judge is not satisfied with the verdict, or the evidence is suspicious, or the indictment is insufficient, or he is doubtful whether the offense be within clergy; or sometimes if it be a small felony, or any favourable circumstances appear in the criminal's character, in order to give room to apply to the Crown for either an absolute or conditional pardon.
How often courts cite the case defining “Reprieve”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “Reprieve” — 1,084 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.