| n. | 1. | The act of executing; a carrying into effect or to completion; performance; achievement; consummation; |
| 2. | A putting to death as a legal penalty; death lawfully inflicted; | |
| 3. | The act of the mode of performing a work of art, of performing on an instrument, of engraving, etc.; | |
| 4. | The mode of performing any activity; | |
| 5. | (Law) The carrying into effect the judgment given in a court of law. | |
| 6. | That which is executed or accomplished; effect; effective work; - usually with do. | |
| 7. | The act of sacking a town. |
EXECUTION, contracts. The accomplishment of a thing; as the execution of a bond and warrant of attorney, which is the signing, sealing, and delivery of the same.
EXECUTION, crim. law. The putting a convict to death, agreeably to law, in pursuance of his sentence.
EXECUTION, practice. The act of carrying into effect the final judgment of a
court, or other jurisdiction. The writ which authorizes the officer so to
carry into effect such judgment is also called an execution.
2. A distinction has been made between an execution which is used to
make the money due on a judgment out of the property of the defendant, and
which is called a final execution; and one which tends to an end but is not
absolutely final, as 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, &c., the imprisonment not being absolute, but until he
shall satisfy the same; this is called an execution quousque. 6 Co. 87.
3. Executions are either to recover specific things, or money. 1. Of
the first class are the writs of habere facias seisinam.; (q.v.) habere
facias possessionem; (q.v.) retorno habendo; (q.v.) distringas. (q.v.) 2.
Executions for the recovery of money are those which issue against the body
of the defendant, as the capias ad satisfaciendum, (q.v.); an attachment,
(q.v.); those which issue against his goods and chattels; namely, the fieri
facias, (q.v.); the, venditioni exponas, (q.v.); those which issue against
his lands, the levari facias; (q.v.) the liberari facias; the elegit. (q.v.)
Vide 10 Vin. Ab. 541; 1 Ves. jr. 430; 1 Sell. Pr. 512; Bac. Ab. h.t.;
Com. Dig. h.t.; the various Digests, h.t.; Tidd's Pr. Index, h.t.; 3
Bouv. Inst. n. 3365, et seq. Courts will at any time grant leave to amend an
execution so as to make it conformable to the judgment on which it was
issued. 1 Serg. & R. 98. A writ of error lies on an award of execution. 5
Rep. 32, a; 1 Rawle, Rep. 47, 48; Writ of Execution;
| (operating system, programming) | execution - The process of carrying out
the instructions in a computer program by a computer. See also dry run. |