in Law, is that species of infamy which is incurred by one who has been capitally convicted of a felony, treason, or other great crime. In that case the law sets a note of infamy upon him, puts him out of its protection, and takes no further care of him than barely to see him executed. He is then called attainted, attinctus, stained or blackened. He is no longer of any credit or reputation; he cannot be a witness in any court, neither is he capable of performing the functions of another man; for, by an anticipation of his punishment, he is already dead in law. This is after judgment; but there is a great difference between a man convicted and attainted, although they are frequently through inaccuracy confounded together. After conviction only a man is liable to none of these disabilities; for there is still in the contemplation of law a possibility of his innocence. Something may be offered in arrest of judgment; the indictment may be erroneous, which will render his guilt uncertain, and therefore upon the present conviction may be quashed; he may obtain a pardon, or be allowed the benefit of clergy; each of which supposes some latent sparks of merit, which plead in extenuation of his fault. But when judgment is once pronounced, both law and fact concur in holding him completely guilty; and there is not the remotest possibility left of anything effectual being said in his favour. Upon judgment of death, therefore, and not before, the attainder of a criminal commences; or upon such circumstances as are equivalent to judgment of death, as judgment of outlawry on a capital charge, pronounced for absconding or fleeing from justice, which tacitly confesses the guilt; and therefore, upon judgment either of outlawry or of death, for treason or felony, a man is said to be attainted.