May God have mercy upon your soul

"May God have mercy upon your soul" or "may God have mercy on your soul" is a phrase used within courts in various legal systems by judges pronouncing a sentence of death upon a person found guilty of a crime that requires a death sentence. The phrase originated in beth din courts in the Kingdom of Israel as a way to attribute God as the highest authority in law. The usage of the phrase later spread to England and Wales' legal system and from there to usage throughout the colonies of the British Empire whenever a death sentence was passed.

Depending on where it is used, the phrase has had different emphasis through the years. It was formally intended as a prayer for the soul of the condemned. However, in later times, particularly in the United States, it has only been said as a result of legal tradition where the religious meaning and origin is not founded on belief.

The phrase is used by the presiding judge pronouncing the sentence of death after putting on a black cap and black gloves. In England, the black gloves were a deliberate contrast with the white gloves normally worn at the end of an Assize sitting, which indicated there had been no death sentence passed during the Assize. The wording of the traditional phrase has changed over time. In England, the wording in the 18th century was "and the Lord have mercy upon thy soul". This later developed into "may God have mercy upon your soul", which was used as the traditional closing sentence by judges passing the death sentence in England and Wales, Canada and Australia. The phrase is treated as a prayer and would traditionally be followed by "amen". Newspaper reports would cite the usage of the phrase as "the usual words had been said".

In the 18th century, the common wording of the phrase in England was "the law is that thou shalt return to the place whence thou camest and from thence to a place of execution where thou shalt hang by the neck 'til the body be dead. Dead. Dead. And the Lord have mercy upon thy soul". This phrase later developed over time until the 1940s when the phrase in Dominions of the British Empire was:

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