Chapter XIII: Part II: is divided into two Branches, viz (3)

The principal official who derives a title from the exchequer in its living sense is, of course, the chancellor of the exchequer. He is the person named second in the patent appointing commissions for executing the office of lord high treasurer of Great Britain and Ireland; but he is appointed chancellor of the exchequer for Great Britain and chancellor of the exchequer for Ireland by two additional patents. Although, in fact, the finance minister of the United Kingdom, he has no _statutory_ power over the exchequer apart from his position as second commissioner of the treasury; but in virtue of his office he is by statute master of the mint, senior commissioner for the reduction of the national debt, a trustee of the British Museum, an ecclesiastical commissioner, a member of the board of agriculture, a commissioner of public works and buildings, local government, and education, a commissioner for regulating the offices of the House of Commons, and has certain functions connected with the office of the secretary of state for India. The only other exchequer officer requiring mention is the comptroller and auditor-general, whose functions as comptroller-general of the exchequer have been already described.

The ancient name of the national banking account has been attached to two of the forms of unfunded national debt. Exchequer bills, which date from the reign of William and Mary (they took the place of the tallies, previously used for the same purpose), became extinct in 1897, but exchequer bonds (first issued by Mr Gladstone in 1853) still possess a practical importance. An exchequer bond is a promise by government to pay a specified sum after a specified period, generally three or five years, and meanwhile to pay interest half-yearly at a specified rate on that sum. Government possesses no general power to issue exchequer bonds; such power is only conferred by a special act, and for specified purposes; but when the power has been created, exchequer bonds issued in pursuance of it are governed by general statutory provisions contained in the Exchequer Bills and Bonds Act 1866, and amending acts. These acts create machinery for the issue of exchequer bonds and for the payment of interest thereon, and protect them against forgery.

Some traces may be mentioned of the ancient uses of the name exchequer which still remain. The chancellor of the exchequer still presides at the ceremony of "pricking the list of sheriffs," which is a quasi-judicial function; and on that occasion he wears a robe of black silk with gold embroidery, which suggests a judicial costume. In England the last judge who was styled baron of the exchequer (Baron Pollock) died in 1897. In Scotland the jurisdiction of the barons of the exchequer was transferred to the court of session in 1856, but the same act requires the appointment of one of the judges as "lord ordinary in exchequer causes," which office still exists. In Ireland Lord Chief Baron Palles was the last to retain the old title. A street near Dublin Castle is called Exchequer Street, recalling the separate Irish exchequer, which ceased in 1817. The old term also survives in the full title of the treasury representative in Scotland, which is "The King's and the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer in Exchequer," while his office in the historic Parliament Square is styled "Exchequer Chambers." (S. E. S.-R.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For the early exchequer Thomas Madox's _History and
Antiquities of the Exchequer_ (London, 1711) remains the standard
authority, and in it the _Dialogus de Scaccario_ of Richard the
Treasurer (1179) was first printed (edited since by A. Hughes, C.G.
Crump and C. Johnson, Oxford, 1902). The publications of the Pipe Roll
Society (London, 1884 et seq.), the Pipe Rolls and Chancellor's Roll,
printed by the Record Commission (London, 1833 and 1844), and H.
Hall's edition of the _Receipt Roll of the Exchequer 31 Henry II._
(London, 1899) should also be consulted. A popular account is in H.
Hall's _Court Life under the Plantagenets_ (London, 1901), and a
careful study in Dr Parow's thesis, _Compotus Vicecomitis_ (Berlin,
1906). For the 13th and 14th centuries H. Hall's edition of the _Red
Book of the Exchequer_ (London, Rolls Series, 1896) is essential, as
also the Public Record Office _List of Foreign Accounts_ (London,
1900). Later practice may be gathered from the similar _List and Index
of Declared Accounts_ (London, 1893), and from such books as Sir T.
Fanshawe's _Practice of the Exchequer Court_, written about A.D. 1600
(London, 1658); Christopher Vernon's _The Exchequer Opened_ (London,
1661), or Sir Geoffrey Gilbert's _Treatise on the Court of Exchequer_
(London, 1758), as well as from the statutes abolishing various
offices in the exchequer. H. Hall's _Antiquities of the Exchequer_
(London, 1891) gives many interesting details of various dates. For
the Scottish exchequer _The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland_ (Edinburgh,
1878 et seq.) should be consulted, while Gilbert's book noted above
gives some details on that of Ireland. See also Appendix 13 to the
great account of _Public Income and Expenditure from 1688 to 1869_, in
three volumes, prepared for parliament by H.W. Chisholm (1869); and
for sidelights on the working of the office from 1825 to 1866 the
reminiscences of the same author (the last chief clerk of the
exchequer) in _Temple Bar_ (January to April 1891).

EXCISE (derived through the Dutch, _excijs_ or _accijs_, possibly from Late Lat. _accensare_,--ad, to, and census, tax; the word owes something to a confusion with _excisum_, cut out), a term now well known in public finance, signifying a duty charged on home goods, either in the process of their manufacture, or before their sale to the home consumers. This form of taxation implies a commonwealth somewhat advanced in manufactures, markets and general riches; and it interferes so directly with the industry and liberty of the subject that it has seldom been introduced save in some supreme financial exigency, and has as seldom been borne, even after long usage, with less than the ordinary impatience of taxation. Yet excise duties can boast a respectable antiquity, having a distinct parallel in the _vectigal rerum venalium_ (or toll levied on all commodities sold by auction, or in public market) of the Romans. But the Roman excise was mild compared with that of modern nations, having never been more than _centesima_, or 1%, of the value; and it was much shorter lived than the modern examples, having been first imposed by Augustus, reduced for a time one-half by Tiberius, and finally abolished by Caligula, A.D. 38, so that the Roman excise cannot have had a duration of much more than half a century. Its remission must have been deemed a great boon in the marts of Rome, since it was commemorated by the issue of small brass coins with the legend _Remissis Centesimis_, specimens of which are still to be found in collections.

The history of this branch of revenue in the United Kingdom dates from the period of the civil wars, when the republican government, following the example of Holland, established, as a means of defraying the heavy expenditure of the time, various duties of excise, which the royalists when restored to power found too convenient or too necessary to be abandoned, notwithstanding their origin and their general unpopularity. On the contrary, they were destined to be steadily increased both in number and in amount. It is curious that the first commodities selected for excise were those on which this branch of taxation, after great extension, had again in the period of reform and free trade been in a manner permanently reduced, viz. malt liquors, and such kindred beverages as cider perry and spruce beer. The other excise duties remaining are chiefly in the form of licences, such as to kill game and to use and carry guns, to sell gold and silver plate, to pursue the business of appraisers or auctioneers, hawkers or pedlars, pawnbrokers or patent-medicine vendors, to manufacture tobacco or snuff, to deal in sweets or in foreign wines, to make vinegar, to roast malt, or to use a still in chemistry or otherwise. It may be presumed that the policy of the licence duties was at first not so much to collect revenue, though in the aggregate they yielded a large sum, as to guard the main sources of excise, and to place certain classes of dealers, by registration and an annual payment to the exchequer, under a direct legal responsibility. The excise system of the United Kingdom as now pruned and reformed, however, while still the most prolific of all the sources of revenue, is simple in process, and is contentedly borne as compared with what was the case in the 18th, and the beginning of the 19th century. The wars with Bonaparte strained the government resources to the uttermost, and excise duties were multiplied and increased in every practicable form. Bricks, candles, calico prints, glass, hides and skins, leather, paper, salt, soap, and other commodities of home manufacture and consumption were placed, with their respective industries, under excise surveillance and fine. When the duties could no longer be increased in number, they were raised in rate. The duty on British spirits, which had begun at a few pence per gallon in 1660, rose step by step to 11s. 8-1/4d. per gallon in 1820; and the duty on salt was augmented to three or fourfold its value.

The old unpopularity of excise, though now somewhat out of date, must have had real enough grounds. It breaks out in English literature, from songs and pasquinades to grave political essays and legal commentaries. Blackstone, in quoting the declaration of parliament in 1649 that "excise is the most easy and indifferent levy that can be laid upon the people," adds on his own authority that "from its first original to the present time its very name has been odious to the people of England" (book i. cap. 8, tenth edition, 1786); while the definition of "excise" gravely inserted by Dr Johnson in the _Dictionary_, at the imminent risk of subjecting the eminent author to a prosecution for libel--viz. "a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid"--can hardly be ever forgotten.

The duties of excise in the United Kingdom were, until the passing of the Finance Act 1908, under the control of the commissioners of inland revenue; they are now under the control of the commissioners of customs; the amount raised, apart from changes in the rate, shows a fairly constant tendency to increase, and is usually regarded as one of the best tests of the prosperity of the working classes.

The _spirit duty_ is levied according to the quantity of "proof spirit" contained in the product of distillation, and the charge is taken at three different points in the process of manufacture, the trader being liable for the result of the highest of the three calculations. What is known as "proof spirit" is obtained by mixing nearly equal weights of pure alcohol and water, the quantity of pure alcohol being in bulk about 57% of the whole. Owing to the high rate of duty as compared with the volume and intrinsic value of the spirits, the whole process of manufacture is carried on under the close supervision of revenue officials. All the vessels used are measured by them and are secured with revenue locks; the premises are under constant survey; and notice has to be given by the distiller of the materials used and of the several stages of his operations. Though the charge for duty is raised at the time when the process of distillation is completed, the duty is not actually paid until the spirits are required for consumption. In the meanwhile they may be retained in an approved "warehouse," which is also subject to close supervision.

The _beer duty_ dates from 1880, in which year it was substituted for the duty on malt. The specific gravity of the worts depends chiefly on the amount of sugar which they contain, and is ascertained by the saccharometer.

Excise _licences_ may be divided into--(a) licences for the sale or manufacture of excisable liquors, (b) licences for other trades, such as tobacco dealers or manufacturers, auctioneers, pawnbrokers, &c., (c) licences for male servants, carriages, motors and armorial bearings, and (d) gun, game and dog licences. Nearly the whole of the licence duties is paid over to the local taxation account.

The _railway passenger duty_, which was made an excise duty by the Railway Passenger Duty Act 1847, applies only to Great Britain. It is levied on all passenger fares exceeding 1d. per mile, the rate being 2% on urban and 5% on other traffic.

The other items which go to make up the excise revenue are the charges on deliveries from bonded warehouses, and the duties on coffee mixture labels and on chicory.

For more detailed information reference should be made to Highmore's
_Excise Laws_, and the annual reports of the commissioners of inland
revenue, especially those issued in 1870 and 1885. See also TAXATION;
ENGLISH FINANCE.

EXCOMMUNICATION (Lat. _ex_, out of, away from; _communis_, common), the judicial exclusion of offenders from the rights and privileges of the religious community to which they belong. The history of the practice of excommunication may be traced through (1) pagan analogues, (2) Hebrew custom, (3) primitive Christian practice, (4) medieval and monastic usage, (5) modern survivals in existing Christian churches.

1. Among pagan analogues are the Gr. [Greek: chernibon eirgesthai] (Demosth. 505, 14), the exclusion of an offender from purification with holy water. This exclusion was enforced in the case of persons whose hands were defiled with bloodshed. Its consequences are described Aesch. _Choeph._ 283, _Eum._ 625 f., Soph. _Oed. Tyr._ 236 ff. The Roman _exsecratio_ and diris _devotio_ was a solemn pronouncement of a religious curse by priests, intended to call down the divine wrath upon enemies, and to devote them to destruction by powers human and divine. The Druids claimed the dread power of excluding offenders from sacrifice (Caes. _B.G._ vi. 13). Primitive Semitic customs recognize that when persons are laid under a ban or taboo (_herem_) restrictions are imposed on contact with them, and that the breach of these involves supernatural dangers. Impious sinners, or enemies of the community and its god, might be devoted to utter destruction.

2. _Hebrew Custom._--In a theocracy excommunication is necessarily both a civil and a religious penalty. The word used in the New Testament to describe an excommunicated person, [Greek: anathema](1 Cor. xvi. 22, Gal. i. 8-9, Rom. ix. 3), is the Septuagint rendering of the Hebrew _herem_. The word means "set apart" (cf. HAREM), and does not distinguish originally between things set apart because devoted to God and things devoted to destruction. Lev. xxvii. 16-34 defines the law for dealing with "devoted" things; according to v. 28 "No devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord, of all that he hath, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. None devoted shall be ransomed, he shall surely be put to death." As in Greece and Rome whole cities or nations might be devoted to destruction by pronouncement of a ban (Numbers xxi. 2, 3, Deut. ii. 34, iii. 6, vii. 2). Occasionally Israelites as well as aliens fall under the curse (Judg. xxi. 5, 11). A milder form of penalty was the temporary separation or seclusion (_niddah_) prescribed for ceremonial uncleanness. This was the ordinary form of religious discipline. In the time of Ezra the Jewish "magistrates and judges" among their ecclesiastico-civil functions have the right of pronouncing sentence whether it be unto death, or to "rooting out," or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment (Ezra vii. 26). There is also a lighter form of excommunication which "devotes" the goods of an offender, but only separates him from the congregation. Both major and minor kinds of excommunication are recognized by the Talmud. The lesser (_niddah_) involved exclusion from the synagogue for thirty days, and other penalties, and might be renewed if the offender remained impenitent. The major excommunication (_herem_) excluded from the Temple as well as the synagogue and from all association with the faithful. Spinoza was excommunicated (July 16, 1656) for contempt of the law. Seldon (_De jure nat. et gen._, iv. 7) gives the text of the curse pronounced on the culprit. The _Exemplar Humanae Vitae_ of Uriel d'Acosta also deserves reference. The practice of the Jewish courts in New Testament times may be inferred from certain passages in the Gospels. Luke vi. 22, John ix. 22, xii. 42 indicate that exclusion from the synagogue was a recognized penalty, and that it was probably inflicted on those who confessed Jesus as the Christ. John xvi. 2 ("Whosoever killeth you," &c.) may point to the power of inflicting the major penalty. The Talmud itself says that the judgment of capital cases was taken away from Israel forty years before the destruction of the Temple. "Forty" is probably a round number without historical value, but the circumstance recorded by this tradition and confirmed by the evangelist's account of the trial of Jesus is historical, and is to be regarded as one of several restrictions imposed on the Jewish courts in the time of the Roman procurators.

3. _Primitive Christian Practice._--The use of excommunication as a form of Christian discipline is based on the precept of Christ and on apostolic practice. The general principles which govern the exclusion of members from a religious community may be gathered from the New Testament writings. Matt. xviii. 15-17 prescribes a threefold admonition, first privately, then in the presence of witnesses (cf. Titus iii. 10), then before the church. This is a graded procedure as in the Jewish synagogue and makes exclusion a last resort. Nothing is said as to the nature and effects of excommunication. The tone of the passage when compared with the disciplinary methods of the synagogue indicates that its purpose was to introduce elements of reason and moral suasion in place of sterner methods. Its object is rather the protection of the church than the punishment of the sinner. The offender is only treated as a heathen and publican when the purity and safety of the church demand it. In the _locus classicus_ on this subject (1 Cor. v. 5) Paul refers to a formal meeting of the Corinthian church at which the incestuous person is "delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." These are mysterious words implying (1) a formal ecclesiastical censure, (2) a physical penalty, (3) the hope of a spiritual result. The form of penalty which would meet these conditions is not explained. There is a reference in 2 Cor. ii. 6-11 to a case of discipline which may or may not be the same. If it be the same it indicates that the excommunication had not been final; the offender had been received back. If it be not the same it shows the Corinthian church exercising discipline independently of apostolic advice. Up to this point there is no established formal practice. 1 Tim. i. 20 ("Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I delivered unto Satan that they might be taught not to blaspheme") seems to refer to an excommunication, but it does not appear whether the apostle had acted as representing a church, nor is there anything to explain the exact consequences or limits of the deliverance to Satan. 1 Cor. xvi. 22, Gal. i. 8, 9, Rom. ix. 3 refer to the practice of regarding a person as anathema. Taking these passages as a whole they seem to point to an exclusion from church fellowship rather than to a final cutting off from the hope of salvation. In the pastoral letters there is already a formal and recognized method of procedure in cases of church discipline. 1 Tim. v. 19, 20 requires two or three witnesses in the case of an accusation against an elder, and a public reproof. Tit. iii. 20 recognizes a factious spirit as a reason for excommunication after two admonitions (cf. Tim. vi. and 2 John v. 10). In 3 John v. 9-10 Diotrephes appears to have secured an excommunication by the action of a party in the church. It is clear from these illustrations that within the New Testament there is development from spontaneous towards strictly regulated methods; also that the use of excommunication is chiefly for disciplinary and protective rather than punitive purposes. A process which is intended to produce penitence and ultimate restoration cannot at the same time contemplate handing the offender over to eternal punishment.

4. _Medieval and Monastic Usage._--The writings of the church Fathers give sufficient evidence that two degrees of excommunication, the [Greek: aphorismos] and the [Greek: aphorismos panteles], as they were generally called, were in use during, or at least soon after, the apostolic age. The former, which involved exclusion from participation in the eucharistic service and from the eucharist itself, though not from the so-called "service of the catechumens," was the usual punishment of comparatively light offences; the latter, which was the penalty for graver scandals, involved "exclusion from all church privileges,"--a vague expression which has sometimes been interpreted as meaning total exclusion from the very precincts of the church building (_inter hiemantes orare_) and from the favour of God (Bingham, _Antiquities of Christian Church_, xvi. 2. 16). For some sins, such as adultery, the sentence of excommunication was in the 2nd century regarded as [Greek: panteles] in the sense of being irrevocable. Difference of opinion as to the absolutely "irremissible" character of mortal sins led to the important controversy associated with the names of Zephyrinus, Tertullian, Calistus, Hippolytus, Cyprian and Novatian, in which the stricter and more montanistic party held that for those who had been guilty of such sins as theft, fraud, denial of the faith, there should be no restoration to church fellowship even in the hour of death. On this point the provincial synods of Illiberis (Elvira) in 305 and of Ancyra in 315 subsequently came to conflicting decisions, the council of Elvira forbidding the reception of offenders into communion during life, and the council of Ancyra fixing a limit to the penalty in the same cases. But the excommunication was on all hands regarded as being "medicinal" in its character. It is noteworthy that the word [Greek: anathema] had fallen into disuse about the beginning of the 4th century, and that, throughout the same period, no instance of the judicial use of the phrase [Greek: paradounai to Satana] can be found.

A new chapter in the history of the church censure may be said to have begun with the publication of those imperial edicts against heresy, the first of which, _De summa trinitate et fide catholica_, dates from 380. Till then exclusion from church privileges had been a spiritual discipline merely; thenceforward it was to expose a man to serious temporal risks. Excommunication still continued to be occasionally used in the spirit of genuine Christian fidelity, as by Ambrose in the case of Theodosius himself (390); but the temptation to wield it as an instrument of secular tyranny too often proved to be irresistible. The church fell back on carnal weapons in her warfare and invoked the secular powers to uphold the ecclesiastical. In the formula used by Synesius (410) which is to be found in Bingham's _Antiquities_, we already find the attention of magistrates specially called to the censured person. The history of the next thousand years shows that the magistrates were seldom slow to respond to the appeal. Even the hastiest survey of that long and interesting period enables the student to notice a marked development in the theory and practice of excommunication. One or two points may be specially noted. (1) When the Empire became nominally Christian and the quality of the church life was sacrificed to the quantity of its adherents, the original character of excommunication was lost. The power of excommunication was transferred from the community to the bishop, and was liable to abuse from personal motives: Gregory the Great rebukes a bishop for using for private ends power conferred for the public good (_Epist._ ii. 34). Excommunication became a common penalty applied in numberless cases (see the _Penitential_ of Archbishop Theodosius: Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and Documents_, iii. 1737), and was invested with superstitious terrors. (2) While it had been held as an undoubted principle by the ancient church that this sentence could only be passed on living individuals whose fault had been distinctly stated and fully proved, we find the medieval church on the one hand sanctioning the practice of excommunication of the dead (Morinus, _De poenit._ x. c. 9), and, on the other hand, by means of the papal interdict, excluding whole countries and kingdoms at once from the means of grace. The earliest well-authenticated instance of such an interdict is that which was passed (998) by Pope Gregory V. on France, in consequence of the contumacy of King Robert the Wise. Other instances are those laid respectively on Germany in 1102 by Gregory VII. (Hildebrand), on England in 1208 by Innocent III., on Rome itself in 1155 by Adrian IV. (3) While in the ancient church the language used in excommunicating had been carefully measured, we find an amazing recklessness in the phraseology employed by the medieval clergy. The curse of Ernulphus or Arnulphus of Rochester (c. 1100), often quoted by students of English literature, is a very fair specimen of that class of composition. With it may be compared the formula transcribed by Dr Burton in his _History of Scotland_ (iii. 317 ff.). To the spoken word was added the language of symbol. By means of lighted candles violently dashed to the ground and extinguished the faithful were graphically taught the meaning of the greater excommunication--though in a somewhat misleading way, for it is a fundamental principle of the canon law that _disciplina est excommunicatio, non eradicatio_. The first instance, however, of excommunication by "bell, book and candle" is comparatively late (c. 1190).

5. _Modem Survivals in Existing Christian Churches._--At the Reformation the necessity for church discipline did not cease to be recognized; but the administration of it in many Reformed churches has passed through a period of some confusion. In some instances the old episcopal power passed more or less into the hands of the civil magistrate (a state of matters which was highly approved by Erastus and his followers), in other cases it was conceded to the presbyterial courts. In the Anglican Church the bishops (subject to appeal to the sovereign) have the right of excommunicating, and their sentence, if sustained, may in certain cases carry with it civil consequences. But this right is in practice never exercised. In the law of England sentence of excommunication, upon being properly certified by the bishop, was followed by the writ _de excommunicato capiendo_ for the arrest of the offender. The statute 5 Eliz. c. 23 provided for the better execution of this writ. By the 53 Geo. III. c. 127 (which does not, however, extend to Ireland) it was enacted that "excommunication, together with all proceedings following thereupon, shall in all cases, save those hereafter to be specified, be discontinued." Disobedience to or contempt of the ecclesiastical courts is to be punished by a new writ, _de contumace capiendo_, to follow on the certificate of the judge that the defender is contumacious and in contempt. Sect. 2 provides that nothing shall prevent "any ecclesiastical court from pronouncing or declaring persons to be excommunicate on definite sentences pronounced as spiritual censures for offences of ecclesiastical cognizance." No persons so excommunicated shall incur any civil penalty or incapacity whatever, save such sentence of imprisonment, not exceeding six months, as the court shall direct and certify to the king in chancery.

In the churches which consciously shaped their polity at or after the Reformation the principle of excommunication is preserved in the practice of church discipline. Calvin devotes a chapter in the _Institutes_ (bk. iv. chap. xii.) to the "Discipline of the Church; its Principal Use in Censure and Excommunication." The three ends proposed by the church in such discipline are there stated to be, (1) that those who lead scandalous lives may not to the dishonour of God be numbered among Christians, seeing that the church is the body of Christ; (2) that the good may not be corrupted by constant association with the wicked; (3) that those who are censured or excommunicated, confounded with shame, may be led to repentance. He differentiates decisively between excommunication and anathema. "When Christ promises that what his ministers bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, he limits the power of binding to the censure of the church; by which those who are excommunicated are not cast into eternal ruin and condemnation, but by having their life and conduct condemned are also certified of their final condemnation unless they repent. For excommunication differs from anathema: anathema which ought to be very rarely, or never, resorted to, in precluding all pardon, execrates a person, and devotes him to eternal perdition: whereas excommunication rather censures and punishes his conduct. Yet in such a manner by warning him of his future condemnation it recalls him to salvation" (_Inst._ bk. iv. chap. xii. 10). The Reformed churches in England and America accepted the distinction between public and private offences. The usual provision is that private offences are to be dealt with according to the rule in Matt. v. 23-24, xviii. 15-17; public offences are to be dealt with according to the rule in 1 Cor. v. 3-5, 13. The public expulsion or suspension of the offender is necessary for the good repute of the church, and its influence over the faithful members. The expelled member may be readmitted on showing the fruits of repentance.

In Scotland three degrees of church censure are recognized--admonition, suspension from sealing ordinances (which may be called temporary excommunication), and excommunication properly so-called. Intimation of the last-named censure may occasionally (but very rarely) be given by authority of a presbytery in a public and solemn manner, according to the following formula:--"Whereas thou N. hast been by sufficient proof convicted (here mention the sin) and after due admonition and prayer remainest obstinate without any evidence or sign of true repentance: Therefore in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and before this congregation, I pronounce and declare thee N. excommunicated, shut out from the communion of the faithful, debar thee from privileges, and deliver thee unto Satan for the destruction of thy flesh, that thy spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." This is called the greater excommunication. The congregation are thereafter warned to shun all unnecessary converse with the excommunicate (see _Form of Process_, c. 8). Formerly excommunicated persons were deprived of feudal rights in Scotland; but in 1690 all acts enjoining civil pains upon sentences of excommunication were finally repealed (Burton's _History_, vii. 435).

The question whether the power of excommunication rests in the church or in the clergy has been an important one in the history of English and American churches. Hooker lays down (_Survey_, pt. 3, pp. 33-46) four necessary conditions for the execution of a sentence involving church discipline. "(1) The cause exactly recorded is fully and nakedly to be presented to the consideration of the congregation. (2) The elders are to go before the congregation in laying open the rule so far as reacheth any particular now to be considered, and to express their judgment and determination thereof, so far as appertains to themselves. (3) Unless the people be able to convince them of errors and mistakes in their sentence, they are bound to joyn their judgment with theirs to the compleating of the sentence. (4) The sentence thus compleatly issued is to be solemnly passed and pronounced upon the delinquent by the ruling Elder whether it be of censure or excommunication." In this passage it is clear that the effective power of discipline is regarded as being wholly in the power of the individual church or congregation. Hooker expressly denies the power of synods to excommunicate: "that there should be Synods, which have _potestatem juridicam_ is nowhere proved in Scripture because it is not a truth" (_Survey_, pt. 4, pp. 48, 49).

The confession of faith issued by the London-Amsterdam church (the original of the Pilgrim Fathers' churches) in 1596 declares that the Christian congregation having power to elect its minister has also power to excommunicate him if the case so require (Walker, _Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism_, p. 66). In 1603 the document known as "Points of Difference" (i.e. from the established Anglicanism) submitted to James I. sets forth: "That all particular Churches ought to be so constituted as, having their owne peculiar Officers, the whole body of every Church may meet together in one place, and jointly performe their duties to God and one towards another. And that the censures of admonition and excommunication be in due manner executed, for sinne, convicted, and obstinately stood in. This power also to be in the body of the Church whereof the partyes so offending and persisting are members." The _Cambridge Platform_ of 1648 by which the New England churches defined their practice, devotes ch. xiv. to "excommunication and other censures." It follows in the main the line of Hooker and Calvin, but adds (S 6) an important definition: "Excommunication being a spirituall punishment it doth not prejudice the excommunicate in, nor deprive him of his _civil_ rights, therfore toucheth not princes, or other magistrates, in point of their civil dignity or authority. And, the excommunicate being but as a publican and a heathen, heathen being lawfully permitted to come to hear the word in church assemblyes; wee acknowledg therfore the like liberty of hearing the word, may be permitted to persons excommunicate, that is permitted unto heathen. And because wee are not without hope of his recovery, wee are not to account him as an enemy but to admonish him as a brother." The Savoy Declaration of 1658 defines the theory and practice of the older English Nonconformist churches in the section on the "Institution of Churches and the Order appointed in them by Jesus Christ" (xix.). The important article is as follows:--"The Censures so appointed by Christ, are Admonition and Excommunication; and whereas some offences are or may be known onely to some, it is appointed by Christ, that those to whom they are so known, do first admonish the offender in private: in publique offences where any sin, before all; or in case of non-amendment upon private admonition, the offence being related to the Church, and the offender not manifesting his repentance, he is to be duely admonished in the Name of Christ by the whole Church, by the Ministery of the Elders of the Church, and if this Censure prevail not for his repentance, then he is to be cast out by Excommunication with the consent of the Church."

In contemporary English Free Churches the purity of the church is commonly secured by the removal of persons unsuitable for membership from the church books by a vote of the responsible authority. (D. Mn.)

EXCRETION (Lat. _ex_, out of, _cernere_, _cretum_, to separate), in plant and animal physiology, the separation from an organ of some substance, also the substance separated. The term usually refers to the separation of waste or harmful products, as distinguished from "secretion," which refers to products that play a useful or necessary part in the functions of the organism.

EXECUTION (from Lat. _ex-sequor_, _exsecutus_, follow or carry out), the carrying into effect of anything, whether a rite, a piece of music, an office, &c.; and so sometimes involving a notion of skill in the performance. 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. During the later Republic, imprisonment took the place of slavery. Under the regime of the _actio per manus injectionem_, the debtor might dispute the debt--the issue being raised by his finding a substitute (_vindex_) to conduct the case for him. By the time of Gaius (iv. 25) the _actio per manus injectionem_ had been superseded by the _actio judicati_, the object of which was to enable the creditor to take payment of the debt or compel the debtor to find security (_pignus in causa judicati captum: Cautio judicatum solvi_), and in A.D. 320 Constantine abolished imprisonment for debt, unless the debtor were contumacious. The time allowed for payment of a judgment debt was by the XII. Tables 30 days; it was afterwards extended to two months, and ultimately, by Justinian, to four months. The next stage in the Roman law of execution was the recognition of bankruptcy either against the will of the bankrupt (_missio in bona_) or on the application of the bankrupt (_cessio bonorum_; and see BANKRUPTCY). Lastly, in the time of Antoninus Pius, judgment debts were directly enforced by the seizure and sale of the debtor's property. Slaves, oxen and implements of husbandry were privileged; and movable property was to be exhausted before recourse was had to land (see Hunter, _Roman Law_, 4th ed. pp. 1029 et seq., Sohm, _Inst. Rom. Law_, 2nd ed. pp. 302-305).

GREAT BRITAIN.--The English law of execution is very complicated, and
only a statement of the principal processes can here be attempted.

_High Court.--Fieri Facias._ A judgment for the recovery of money or
costs is enforced, as a rule, by writ of _fieri facias_ addressed to
the sheriff, and directing him to cause to be made (_fieri facias_) of
the goods and chattels of the debtor a levy of a sum sufficient to
satisfy the judgment and costs, which carry interest at 4% per annum.
The seizure effected by the sheriff or his officer, under this writ,
of the property of the debtor, is what is popularly known as "the
putting-in" of an execution. The seizure should be carried out with
all possible despatch. The sheriff or his officer must not break open
the debtor's house in effecting a seizure, for "a man's house is his
castle" (_Semayne's Case_ [1604], 5 Coke Rep. 91); but this principle
applies only to a dwelling-house, and a barn or outhouse unconnected
with the dwelling-house may be broken into. The sheriff on receipt of
the writ endorses on it the day, hour, month and year when he received
it; and the writ binds the debtor's goods as at the date of its
delivery, except as regards goods sold before seizure in market overt,
or purchased for value, without notice before actual seizure (Sale of
Goods Act 1893, s. 26, which supersedes s. 16 of the Statute of Frauds
and s. 1 of the Mercantile Law Amendment Act 1856). This rule is
limited to goods, and does not apply to the money or bank notes of the
debtor which are not bound by the writ till seized under it (_Johnson_
v. _Pickering_, Oct. 14, 1907, C.A.). The mere seizure of the goods,
however, although, subject to such exceptions as those just stated, it
binds the interest of the debtor, and gives the sheriff such an
interest in the goods as will enable him to sue for the recovery of
their possession, does not pass the property in the goods to the
sheriff. The goods are in the custody of the law. But the property
remains in the debtor who may get rid of the execution on payment of
the claim and fees of the sheriff [as to which see Sheriffs Act 1887,
s. 20, and order of 21st of August 1888, _Annual Practice_ (1908),
vol. ii. p. 278]. The wearing apparel, bedding, tools, &c., of the
debtor to the value of L5 are protected. Competing claims as to the
ownership of the goods seized are brought before the courts by the
procedure of "interpleader." After seizure, the sheriff must retain
possession, and, in default of payment by the execution debtor,
proceed to sell. Where the judgment debt, including legal expenses,
exceeds L20, the sale must be by public auction, unless the Court
otherwise orders, and must be publicly advertised. The proceeds of
sale, after deduction of the sheriff's fees and expenses, become the
property of the execution creditor to the extent of his claim. The
Bankruptcy Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 71, s. 11 [2]) requires the
sheriff in case of sale under a judgment for a sum exceeding L20 to
hold the proceeds for 14 days in case notice of bankruptcy proceedings
should be served upon him (see BANKRUPTCY). The form of the writ of
_fieri facias_ requires the sheriff to make a return to the writ. In
practice this is seldom done unless the execution has been ineffective
or there has been delay in the execution of the writ; but the judgment
creditor may obtain an order calling on the sheriff to make a return.
A sheriff or his officer, who is guilty of extortion in the execution
of the writ, is liable to committal for contempt, and to forfeit L200
and pay all damages suffered by the person aggrieved (Sheriffs Act
1887 [50 & 51 Vict. c. 55], s. 29 [2]), besides being civilly liable
to such person. Imprisonment for debt in execution of civil judgments
is now abolished except in cases of default in the nature of
contempt, unsatisfied judgments for penalties, defaults by persons in
a fiduciary character, and defaults by judgment debtors (Debtors Act
1869 [32 & 33 Vict. c. 62]; Bankruptcy Act 1883 [46 & 47 Vict. c. 52],
ss. 53, 103). Imprisonment for debt has been abolished within similar
limits in Scotland (Debtors [Scotland] Act 1880 [43 & 44 Vict. c. 34]
and Ireland, Debtors [Ireland] Act 1872, 35 & 36 Vict. c. 57). There
may still be imprisonment in England, under the writ--rarely used in
practice--_ne exeat regno_, which issues to prevent a debtor from
leaving the kingdom.

_Writ of Elegit._--The writ of _elegit_ is a process enabling the
creditor to satisfy his judgment debt out of the lands of the debtor.
It derives its name from the election of the creditor in favour of
this mode of recovery. It is founded on the Statute of Westminster
(1285, 13 Ed. I. c. 18), under which the sheriff was required to
deliver to the creditor all the chattels (except oxen and beasts of
the plough) and _half_ the lands of the debtor until the debt was
satisfied. By the Judgments Act 1838 the remedy was extended to _all_
the debtor's lands, and by the Bankruptcy Act 1883 the writ no longer
extends to the debtor's goods. The writ is enforceable against legal
interests whether in possession or remainder (_Hood-Barrs_ v.
_Cathcart_, 1895, 2 Ch. 411), but not against equitable interests in
land (_Earl of Jersey_ v. _Uxbridge Rural Sanitary Authority_, 1891, 3
Ch. 183). When the debtor's interest is equitable, recourse is had to
equitable execution by the appointment of a receiver or to bankruptcy
proceedings.

The writ is directed to the sheriff, who, after marking on it the date
of its receipt, at once in pursuance of its directions holds an
inquiry with a jury as to the nature and value of the interest of the
debtor in the lands extended under the writ, and delivers to the
creditor at a reasonable price and extent in accordance with the writ,
the lands of which the debtor was possessed in the bailiwick. When the
sheriff has returned and filed a record (in the central office of the
High Court) of the writ and the execution thereof, the execution
creditor becomes "tenant to the elegit." Where the land is freehold
the creditor acquires only a chattel interest in it; where the land is
leasehold he acquires the whole of the debtor's interest (_Johns_ v.
_Pink_, 1900, 1 Ch. 296). The creditor is entitled to hold the land
till his debt is satisfied, or enough to satisfy it is tendered to
him, and under the Judgments Act 1864 the creditor may obtain an order
for sale. Until the land is delivered on execution and the writs which
have effected the delivery are registered in the Land Registry, the
judgment does not create any charge on the land so as to fetter the
debtor's power of dealing with it. Land Charges Registration Acts 1888
and 1900. (See R.S.C., O. xliii.)

_Writs of Possession and Delivery._--Judgments for the recovery or for
the delivery of the possession of land are enforceable by writ of
possession. The recovery of specific chattels is obtained by writ of
delivery (R.S.C., O. xlvii., xlviii.).

_Writ of Sequestration._--Where a judgment directing the payment of
money into court, or the performance by the defendant of any act
within a limited time, has not been complied with, or where a
corporation has wilfully disobeyed a judgment, a writ of sequestration
is issued, to not less than four sequestrators, ordering them to enter
upon the real estate of the party in default, and "sequester" the
rents and profits until the judgment has been obeyed (R.S.C., O.
xliii. r. 6).

_Equitable Execution._--Where a judgment creditor is otherwise unable
to reach the property of his debtor he may obtain equitable execution,
usually by the appointment of a receiver, who collects the rents and
profits of the debtor's land for the benefit of the creditor (R.S.C.,
O. l. rr. 15A-22). But receivers may be appointed of interests in
personal property belonging to the debtor by virtue of the Judicature