Honourable amends.
355
HONOURABLE amendsis an instance of defamatory punishment, a common
practice particularly in France against criminals of lèse-majesté human or
divine, or other parties guilty of scandalous crimes.
The guilty party is remanded into the custody of the executioner, who disrobes him, & leaves him but in shirt-sleeves; following which he places a noose around his neck, places a waxen torch in his hand, & leads him to the auditorium or to the front of a Church, where he constrains him to ask for forgiveness from God, the King & the Courts. At times the punishment ends there: but in most instances it is but a prelude to capital punishment or to the galleys. [...]
Source: Diderot, Denis et Jean le Rond d'Alembert, "Honourable amends, in l'Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers " (Paris: Briasson et autres, 1751-1765), tome I, page 355.