Pardon \Par"don\ (p[aum]r"d'n), n. [F., fr. pardonner to pardon. See {Pardon}, v. t.] 1. The act of pardoning; forgiveness, as of an offender, or of an offense; release from penalty; remission of punishment; absolution.
Pardon, my lord, for me and for my tidings. --Shak.
But infinite in pardon was my judge. --Milton.
Usage: Used in expressing courteous denial or contradiction; as, I beg your pardon; or in indicating that one has not understood another; as, I beg pardon; or pardon me?. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. An official warrant of remission of penalty.
Sign me a present pardon for my brother. --Shak.
3. The state of being forgiven. --South.
4. (Law) A release, by a sovereign, or officer having jurisdiction, from the penalties of an offense, being distinguished from {amnesty}, which is a general obliteration and canceling of a particular line of past offenses.
Syn: Forgiveness; remission. See {Forgiveness}.
Pardon \Par"don\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pardoned} (p[aum]r"d'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Pardoning}.] [Either fr. pardon, n., or from F. pardonner, LL. perdonare; L. per through, thoroughly, perfectly + donare to give, to present. See {Par-}, and {Donation}.] 1. To absolve from the consequences of a fault or the punishment of crime; to free from penalty; -- applied to the offender.
In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant. --2 Kings v. 18.
I pray you, pardon me; pray heartily, pardon me. --Shak.
2. To remit the penalty of; to suffer to pass without punishment; to forgive; -- applied to offenses.
I pray thee, pardon my sin. --1 Sam. xv. 25.
Apollo, pardon My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle! --Shak.
3. To refrain from exacting as a penalty.
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it. --Shak.
4. To give leave (of departure) to. [Obs.]
Even now about it! I will pardon you. --Shak.
{Pardon me}, forgive me; excuse me; -- a phrase used also to express courteous denial or contradiction, or to request forgiveness for a mild transgression, such as bumping a person while passing. [1913 Webster +PJC]
Syn: To forgive; absolve; excuse; overlook; remit; acquit. See {Excuse}.
Five members of Congress asked President Reagan on Wednesday to pardon Conan Owen, the Annandale, Va., photographer freed from a Spanish prison after serving time for what U.S. officials say was a wrongful drug trafficking conviction.
The only junta member left out of the proposed pardon was Dimitris Ioannides, who engineered a failed 1974 coup in nearby Cyprus, a disaster that led to the partition of the Mediterranean island and Greece's return to civilian rule.
Shaw, granddaughter of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, asked for the pardon last August.
Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis had said Friday that he decided for humanitarian reasons to pardon nearly all the jailed former members of the junta, some of whom are serving life sentences.
The president of El Salvador's National Assembly called for a blanket pardon for war criminals, including military officers convicted of the murders of six Jesuit priests.
Reagan was asked Sunday on his return to the White House from Camp David whether he planned to pardon Ms. Hearst, who received a seven-year sentence for participating in the armed robbery of a San Francisco bank.
Dotson's attorney, Thomas Breen, contends Dotson deserves a "full and complete pardon" after the most recent test, a kind of genetic fingerprinting performed by a California firm, exonerated Dotson.
Inmates at four French prisons refused to return to their cells Sunday to protest a presidential pardon granted to a convicted terrorist whose release was sought by Iran.
Nofziger wrote a letter to the president "a number of weeks ago" to state his refusal to accept any pardon that might be contemplated before Reagan leaves office next month, said defense attorney E. Lawrence Barcella.
A spokesman for the pardon office said the application review process could take several years and depends completely on the discretion of the president.
The next step is a full pardon." "Luc Desir, the man who directed torture sessions with a Bible in his hand, is a symbol of Duvalierist barbarity," Bajeux said in an interview.
The Bush White House is treading carefully over the issue of a pardon for Oliver North, whom the president has several times called a hero.
If he so wishes, he may even grant full pardon," Max Kernizan, the secretary of the Port-au-Prince Bar Association, told The Associated Press.
But the Cook County state's attorney's office said a pardon should not be granted because the tests were not reliable and would not be admissible in Illinois courts.
"I beg your pardon?"
His House of Israel followers say his condition is worsening and he is seeking a pardon for his 1986 manslaughter conviction on humanitarian grounds.
The National Assembly took up a bill Tuesday that would pardon nearly 2,000 soldiers of the former Somoza regime to comply with agreements made at a Central American summit Feb. 14.
The district attorney is seeking a pardon for a 49-year-old man who has spent five years in prison for an armored car robbery that police now say he did not commit.
The guerrillas are urging the government to end its war against the cocaine cartels, to pardon drug traffickers and to refuse to extradite them to the United States.
The governor renewed that refusal after Dotson asked last fall for a pardon based on tests performed by a scientist.
May 12: Gov. James R. Thompson commutes Dotson's sentence to time served but refuses to grant a pardon proclaiming Dotson's innocence.
Falwell said Monday he has collected 600,000 of the 2 million signatures he wants for a petition calling on Reagan to pardon North.
On Cyprus, nearly all political parties condemned the proposal to pardon the leaders.
Bill Quigley, one of Felde's lawyers, said he thought Roemer would postpone the execution until he could appoint a new pardon board to consider the case.
He suggested that since Japan needs the workers, it should pardon them and establish procedures for admitting more, as other industrialized countries have done.
The petitioners also asked Reagan to pardon Pollard's wife, Anne Henderson-Pollard, who was sentenced to five years in jail for being an accessory.
Bush had said last week that he had had no discussions with anyone about a possible pardon for North, and on Thursday, deputy press secretary Stephen Hart said only, "We won't have any comment" on North's conviction.
President Daniel Ortega, who is running for re-election, proposed the pardon earlier this month.
President Reagan said Thursday he is against a pardon for former aide Oliver L. North, but "duty requires" his administration to block release of secret documents that may be needed for North's trial on Iran-Contra charges.
Bush said on April 24 that he had not talked with anyone about whether he would pardon North and said any suggestions about what he would do were "stupid" and "idiotic."