In old English law. A penalty imposed upon a person by way of disgrace or infamy, as a punish-ment for any offense, or for the purpose of making reparation for any injury done to an-other, as tbe walking Into church in a white sheet, with a rope about the neck and a torch in tbe hand, and begging the pardon of God, or the king, or any private individual, for some delinquency. Bouvier
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
