HANGING, in ancient days, a mark of indignity practised on the lifeless form of criminals. As a form of execution it does not appear in the Mosaic legislation. It is probable that the Chief Baker in the time of Joseph (Genesis xli. 13) was thus exposed to shame after being killed. Under Persian rule gallows were certainly used as a method of execution. The case of Haman exemplifies this method (Esther ii. 23, vii. 9-1o). It was derived by the Anglo-Saxons from their German ancestors (Tacitus, Germ. 12) . In England Henry I. decreed that all thieves taken should be hanged (i.e., summarily without trial), and by the time of Henry II. hanging was fully established as a punishment for homicide ; the "right of pit and gallows" was ordinarily included in the royal grants of jurisdiction to lords of manors and to ecclesiastical and municipal corporations. In the middle ages every town, abbey, and nearly all the more important manorial lords had the right of hanging. From the end of the 12th cen tury the jurisdiction of the royal courts gradually became exclusive. Hanging was substituted in 1790 for burning as a punishment of petty treason (see TREASON), and in 1814 for beheading as a punishment for male traitors. Formerly in the worst cases of murder it was customary after execution to hang the criminal's body in chains near the scene of his crime. This was known as "gibbeting," and, though by no means rare in the earliest times, was, according to Blackstone, no part of the legal sentence. It was not until 1752 that gibbeting was recognized by statute. The Act (25 Geo. II. c. 37) empowered the judges to direct that the dead body of a murderer should be hung in chains, in the manner practised for the most atrocious offences, or given over to surgeons to be dissected and anato mized, and forbade burial except after dissection (see Foster, Crown Law, 107, Earl Ferrers' case, 176o) . The Act of 1752 was repealed in 1828, but the alternatives of dissection or hanging in chains were re-enacted and continued in use until abolished as to dissection by the Anatomy Acts in 1832, and as to hanging in chains in In Great Britain criminals are executed by fracturing or dis locating the first three cervical vertebrae and so damaging the vital centres in the spinal cord. This is done by placing a noose round the neck and allowing the condemned to fall a distance of 6 to 8 ft. before the rope takes the strain. The knot is placed either behind the ear or under the chin, so that the neck may be more readily broken. Under the Act of 1868 (31 and 32 Vict. c. 24), which was adapted from similar legislation already in force in the Australian colonies convicted murderers are hanged within the walls of a prison. The sentence of the court is that the convict "be hanged by the neck until he is dead." The execution of the sentence devolves on the sheriff of the county (Sheriffs Act, 1887, s. 13) . A public notice of the date and hour of execution must be posted on the prison walls not less than 12 hours before the execution and must remain until the inquest is over. The per sons required to be present are the sheriff, the gaoler, chaplain and surgeon of the prison, and such other officers of the prison as the sheriff requires; justices of the peace for the jurisdiction to which the prison belongs, and such of the relatives, or such other persons as the sheriff or visiting justices allow, may also attend. The death of the prisoner is certified by the prison surgeon, and a declaration that judgment of death has been exe cuted is signed by the sheriff. An inquest is then held on the body by the coroner for the jurisdiction and a jury at which it is usual to allow the attendance of some representatives of the press. (See further CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.) United States.—Capital punishment has been abolished in Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, except in North Dakota and Rhode Island where it applies if a person serving a life sentence commits murder. Elec trocution has been substituted for hanging in Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ken tucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Vir ginia. Kentucky still inflicts hanging for rape. Execution is by lethal gas in Nevada and in Utah the condemned person has the option of death by hanging or shooting. In the other States hanging remains as the method of legal execution. In States having execution, it is invoked for first degree murder, although in some States the jury may bring about life imprisonment by urging mercy. A few of the States permit execution for kid napping and rape.