execution

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.

The accomplishment of a thing; the completion of an act or instrument; the fulfillment of an undertaking. Thus, a contract is executed when the act to be done is performed; a deed is executed when it is signed, sealed, and delivered. In Criminal Law. Putting a convict to death, agreeably to law, in pursuance of his sentence. This is to be performed by the sheriff or his deputy. See 4 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 403. In Practice. Putting the sentence of the law in force. 3 Bl. Comm. 412. The act of carrying into effect the final judgment or decree of a court. The writ which directs and authorizes the officer to carry into effect such judgment. Final execution is one which authorizes the money due on a judgment to be made out of the property of the defendant. Execution quousque is such as tends to an end, but is not absolutely final; as, for example, a capias ad satisfaciendum, by virtue of which the body of the defendant is taken, to the intent that the plaintiff shall be satisfied his debt, etc., the imprisonment not being absolute, but until he shall satisfy the same. 6 Coke, 87. See "Facias."

The completion, fulfillment or perfecting of anything or carrying It into operation and effect The signing, sealing, and delivery of a deed. The signing and publication of a will. The performance of a contract according to its terms.

In practice. The last stage of a suit, whereby possession is obtained of anything recovered. It is styled "final process," and consists in putting the sentence of the law in force. 3 Bl. Comm. 412. The carrying into effect of the sentence or Judgment of a court U. S. v. Nourse, 9 Pet. 28, 9 In Ed. 31; Griffith v. Fowler, 18 Vt. 394; Pierson v. Hammond, 22 Tex. 587 ; Brown v. U. S., 6 Ct. Ch 178 ; Hurlbutt v. Currier, 68 N. H. 94, 38 Atl. 502; Darby v. Carson. 9 Ohio, 149. Also the name of a writ issued to a sheriff, constable, or marshal, authorizing and requiring him to execute the judgment of the court. At common law, executions are said to be either final or quousque; the former, where complete satisfaction of the debt is intended to be procured by this process; the latter, where the execution is only a means toan end, as where the defendant is arrested on ca. sa.

In criminal law. The carrying into effect the sentence of the law by the infliction of capital punishment 4 Bl. Comm. 403; 4 Steph. Comm. 470. It is a vulgar error to speak of the "execution" of a convicted criminal. It is the sentence of the court which is "executed;" the criminal is put to death. ' In French law. A method of obtaining satisfaction of a debt or claim by sale of the debtor's property privately, i. e., without judicial process, authorized by the deed or agreement of the parties or by custom; as, in the case of a stockbroker, who may sell securities of his customer, bought under his instructions or deposited by him, to indemnify himself or make good a debt. Arg. Fr. Mere, Law, 557.

— Execution paree. In French law. A right founded on an act passed bsfore a notary, by which the creditor may immediately, without citation or summons, seize and cause to be sold the property of his debtor, out of the proceeds of which to receive his payment It imports a confession of judgment, and is not unlike a warrant of attorney. Code Proc. La. art. 732; 6 Toullier, no. 208 ; 7 Toullier, no. 99.

— Attachment execution. See Attachment.

— Dormant execntion. See Dormant.

— Equitable execution. This term is sometimes applied to the appointment of a receiver with power of sale. Hatch v. Van Dervoort, 54 N. J. Eq. 511, 34 Atl. 938

— Execution creditor. See Creditor.

— Execution of decree. Sometimes from the neglect of parties, or some other cause, it became impossible to carry a decree into execution without the further decree of the court upon a bill filed for that purpose. This happened generally in cases where, parties ha-ping neglected to proceed upon the decree, their rights under it became so embarrassed by a variety of subsequent events that it was necessary to have the decree of the court to settle and ascertain them. Such a bill might also be brought to carry into execution the judgment of an inferior court of equity, if the jurisdiction of that court was not equal to the purpose ; as in the case of a decree in Wales, which the defendant avoided by fleeing into England. This species of bill was generally partly an original bili, and partly a bili in the nature of an original bill, though not strictly original. Story, Eq. PI. 342; Daniell, Ch. Pr. 1429.

— Execution of deeds. The signing, sealing, and delivery of them by the parties, as their own acts and deeds, in the presence of wifuesses.

— Ex-scution sale. A sale by a sheriff or other ministerial officer under the authority of a writ of execution which he has levied on property of the debtor. Noland v. Barrett, 122 Mo. 181, 26 S. W. 692, 48 Am. St. Rep. 572; Norton v. Reardon, 67 Kan. 302, 72 Pac. 861, 100 Am. St. Rep. 459.

— Testatum execution. See Testatum.
—-General execution. A writ commanding an officer to satisfy a judgment out of any personal property of the defendant. If authorizing him to levy only on certain specified property, the writ is sometimes calied a "special" execution. Pracht v. Pister, 30 Kan. 568, 1 Pac. 638.

— Junior execution. One which was issued after the issuance of another execution, on a different judgment, against the same defendant.

The completion of an act or proceeding, by which it is rendered operative or effectual; the formality of signing, sealing and delivery by the party making a deed, or of signing and publication by the party making a will, in the presence of witnesses; the effect of the sentence of the law by the infliction of capital punishment

In equity practice. One which is filed when, from the neglect of parties or some other cause, it may became impossible to carry a decree into execntion without the further deeree of the court. Lind, Ch. Pr, 68; Story, Eq. Pl. § 42. BILL TO PERPETUATEH TESTI-

1. The carrying into effect a 2. A judicial writ issued for that purpose. of an instrument in such a way as to make it

[Lat. execuiio; L. Fr. execucyon,] The completion of an act or proceeding, by which it is rendered operative or effectual; a following out or carrying into effect; an enforcement. See infra.