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An execution warrant or death warrant is a warrant which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death (capital punishment) on an individual.
United States of America
In the United States the Governor of the state, or the President of the United States in federal death penalty cases, issues an execution warrant when a person has been sentenced to death in a local or district court, after trial and conviction, and usually after appeals are exhausted (or the judge in many states, notably Texas). This protects the executioner from being charged with murder. Normally when a death warrant is signed and an execution date is set, the condemned person is moved from his or her death row cell to a death watch cell, which is typically located adjacent to the execution chamber. Usually, the government agency charged with carrying out an execution, normally the state's Department of Corrections or the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in federal cases, has a limited time frame, normally about 60 days, from the date the warrant is signed, to complete the execution process, or the warrant expires and the condemned person is returned to the death row cell, where he or she will await another execution date. The Governor, an appeals court, or a state or federal Supreme Court, or in federal death penalty cases the President, may grant a stay of execution at any time, even when the condemned is being prepared for execution.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a Warrant of Execution is issued in civil cases where a defendant has failed to pay a cash judgment or make the ordered installments on time.
The warrant, which must be applied for by the claimant (previously known as a plaintiff) authorises the County Court bailiff to enter the defendants premises (home or business) to seize goods.
