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LSDefine

Simple English definitions for legal terms

plea of pregnancy

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A quick definition of plea of pregnancy:

A plea of pregnancy is when a woman who has been found guilty of a serious crime claims that she is pregnant in order to delay her punishment. In the past, a special jury of women would examine the woman to determine if she was truly pregnant. If she was, her punishment would be postponed until after the baby was born. This practice is no longer used, but it is still against the law to execute a pregnant woman.

A more thorough explanation:

Definition: A plea made by a woman who has been convicted of a serious crime, asking for her execution to be postponed until after she gives birth.

In the past, women who were sentenced to death or transportation (being sent to a penal colony) could plead their belly, which meant they claimed to be pregnant in order to avoid punishment. However, this plea was often met with suspicion, and a special jury of women (called matrons) would be appointed to examine the defendant and determine if she was truly pregnant or not.

If the woman was found to be "quick with child" (meaning she was far enough along in her pregnancy), her execution or transportation would be postponed until after she gave birth. However, if she was found to be lying about her pregnancy, she would still be punished.

Today, the plea of pregnancy is no longer used, but the law still prohibits the execution of pregnant women.

One famous example of the plea of pregnancy was made by Mary Surratt, who was convicted of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. She claimed to be pregnant in order to avoid being hanged, but the jury of matrons declared that she was not actually pregnant. She was executed anyway.

plea not pure | plea of privilege

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Congrats1!
21:15
Miami A, yall I'm so excited I could cry.
21:15
Feel like I can finally stop holding my breath!! Whew!!!
[] baddestbunny
22:16
every time I get accosted by a strange man who follows me around because my male coworkers were too busy talking to walk me back to my car I get closer to saying we need to bring back traditional gender roles
Dkk
22:32
Nice! @Macaque
Dkk
22:32
@Aromatic, Have to guess.
Dkk
22:33
That sucks @Bunny do you have to go to the hospital?
[] baddestbunny
22:40
I said accosted not assaulted
23:35
guys. my notre dame address just went long is this good or bad
1a2b3c4d26z
23:37
Oooooo me too
23:37
omg is this good or bad
Dkk
23:47
Idk if gender roles are gunna fix that then.
23:49
it looks like most people who applied in october last cycle didn't get a decision until january... does it even mean anything that our addresses went long??
hows ED 2 compared to ED 1?
Dkk
0:10
No idea
windyMagician
0:34
reporting live to say my ndls address also went long
does it mean anything ^
Dkk
2:21
NDLS and Fordham took a very long time last year. It's good info for people to know.
[] baddestbunny
4:29
let’s get after it boys and girls
Dkk
5:21
I gtg to bed soon.
Dkk
5:22
Big day today. Gunna be a crazy one. I will sleep through the first half.
good morning lsd it is 5 am EST
also jazzy my ndls address went long ages ago i sadly do not think it means anything
my stanford address also went long LOL i think at most it's an indicator it's under review
WorthlessAttractiveZombie
7:44
My berkeley paragraph finally disappeared. I definitely think it is just an indicator that they are actively reviewing files, and does not mean anything about A, WL, or Rs
WorthlessAttractiveZombie
7:46
Also has anyone's date disappeared for W&L? Mine did last night
7:55
@WorthlessAttractiveZombie: mine did yesterday morning
7:56
Oops sorry I meant Vilanova. Mine disappeared last week
soapy
8:48
UMN under review! As predicted, decisions are gonna come out early December
Minus those random R decisions from UMN yesterday though right? I wonder what happened there. I don’t think I’ve seen a school start the season out with anything but As on here
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