| Title: | Honorable amends |
| Original Title: | Amende honorable |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 1 (1751), p. 355 |
| Author: | François-Vincent Toussaint (biography) |
| Translator: | Adrienne Jacaruso [University of Michigan] |
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.883 |
| Citation (MLA): | Toussaint, François-Vincent. "Honorable amends." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Adrienne Jacaruso. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2013. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.883>. Trans. of "Amende honorable," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 1. Paris, 1751. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Toussaint, François-Vincent. "Honorable amends." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Adrienne Jacaruso. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.883 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Amende honorable," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1:355 (Paris, 1751). |
Honorable Amends is a kind of disgraceful punishment, used in France specifically for criminals of lèse-majesté or those guilty of other scandalous crimes.
The guilty party is placed in the hands of the executioner, who removes his garments and leaves him only his shirt; after which he puts a rope around his neck, puts a wax torch in his hand, and leads him in front of the court or in front of a Church, where he must ask forgiveness from God, the King and Justice. On occasion the punishment ends there; but more often it is only the prelude to capital punishment or the galleys.
One calls also making honorable amends to someone making public reparations to them in court, or in the presence of appointed persons to that end, for the insults spoken to them and for the mistreatment done to them.