To this head may be referred a part of the punishment in use in England for High Treason, according to the Common Law; the taking out and burning of the entrails, the cutting off the head, and the dividing the body into four quarters, which are disposed of at the King's pleasure. 2 Hawkins, 443. By an English statute, in cases of murder, the Judge is enjoined to order the body (after the criminal has been put to death by hanging) to be publicly dissected, and is empowered to order it to be hung in chains, as the phrase is: which is practised by suspending it from a gibbet in an iron frame.

RP Book 3 Chapter 3 Section 1