Pit
Defined in 5 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Abbott (1879)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
A hole dug in the earth, which was filled with water, and in which women thieves were drowned, instead of being hung. The punishment of the pit was formerly common in Scotland. PIT AND GALLOWS (Law Lat, fossa et fwca).
In Scotch law. A privilege of inflicting capital punishment for theft, given by King Malcolm, by which a woman could be drowned in a pit (fossa) or a man hanged on ttie galltfws (/ttrcfc). De Hj Diet.; Stair, I-nst. 277, § 62. PIX (Lafc) A mode of testing coin. The ascertaining whether fcdin is of the proper standard is, in England, called "pixing" it; inquisition called the "trial of the pix," before a jury of members of the Goldsmith's Company. 2 Steph. Comm. 540, note. PIXIS (Law Lat.)
In old pleading. A box. Cro. Jac. 664. "Trover was brought de una pixide, Anglice, a box full of bands," etc. Id. A box for deeds and muniments. Latch, 195.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
A hole dug in the earth, which was filled with water, and in which women thieves were drowned, instead of being hung. The punishment of the pit was formerly common in Scotland.
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
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.