Editing Posthumous execution (section)

==Dissection as a punishment in England==
Some [[Christians]] believed that the [[resurrection of the dead]] on [[Judgment Day]] requires that the body be buried whole facing east so that the body could rise facing [[God]].<ref>Barbara Yorke (2006), ''The Conversion of Britain''  Pearson Education, {{ISBN|978-0-582-77292-2}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NDxqZZCOh0C&pg=PA215&dq=resurrection++body+facing+east&lr= p. 215]</ref><ref>Fiona Haslam (1996), ''From Hogarth to Rowlandson: Medicine in Art in Eighteenth-century Britain'', Liverpool University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-85323-640-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ab_pQOdi2fUC&pg=PA280&dq=resurrection+quartered p. 280] ([[Thomas Rowlandson]], "[http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/foxweb/huntsearch/LargeImage.fwx?collection=hunter&catno=40609&mdaCode=GLAHA&filename=40609.jpg&browseMode=on  The Resurrection or an Internal View of the Museum in W-D M-LL street on the last day]) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426070953/http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/foxweb/huntsearch/LargeImage.fwx?collection=hunter&catno=40609&mdaCode=GLAHA&filename=40609.jpg&browseMode=on |date=26 April 2009}}", 1782)</ref> If dismemberment stopped the possibility of the resurrection of an intact body, then a posthumous execution was an effective way of punishing a criminal.<ref>{{cite web |author=Staff |url=http://www.catholic.com/library/Resurrection_of_the_Body.asp |title=Resurrection of the Body |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023202216/http://www.catholic.com/library/Resurrection_of_the_Body.asp |archive-date=23 October 2008 |access-date=2008-11-17}}</ref><ref>Mary Abbott (1996). ''Life Cycles in England, 1560–1720: Cradle to Grave'', Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415108423}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sCI1nnR1_zAC&pg=PA33&dq=resurrection p. 33]</ref>

{{Blockquote|In England Henry VIII granted the annual right to the bodies of four hanged felons. Charles II later increased this to six&nbsp;... Dissection was now a recognised punishment, a fate worse than death to be added to hanging for the worst offenders.

The dissections performed on hanged felons were public: indeed part of the punishment was the delivery from hangman to surgeons at the gallows following public execution, and later public exhibition of the open body itself&nbsp;... [[Murder Act 1751|In 1752 an act]] was passed allowing dissection of all murderers as an alternative to [[Gibbeting|hanging in chains]]. This was a grisly fate, the tarred body being suspended in a cage until it fell to pieces. The object of this and dissection was to deny a grave&nbsp;... Dissection was described as "a further terror and peculiar Mark of Infamy" and "in no case whatsoever shall the body of any murderer be suffered to be buried". The rescue, or attempted rescue of the corpse was punishable by [[Penal transportation|transportation]] for seven years.|Dr D. R. Johnson, ''Introductory Anatomy''.<ref>Dr D.R.Johnson, [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chb/lectures/anatomy1.html Introductory Anatomy ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104162600/http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chb/lectures/anatomy1.html |date=4 November 2008 }}, Centre for Human Biology, (now renamed [http://www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/ Faculty of Biological Sciences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202023754/http://www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/ |date=2 December 2008 }}, [[Leeds University]]), Retrieved 2008-11-17</ref>
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