Commutation

COMMUTATION, COMMUTE - The change of a punishment to which a person has been condemned into a less severe one. This can be granted only by the executive authority in which the pardoning power resides.

COMMUTE - To substitute one punishment in the place of another. For example, if a man be sentenced to be hung, the executive may, in some states, commute his punishment to that of imprisonment.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.

In criminal law, substituting a lesser punishment for a greaterone, such as life imprisonment for a death sentence, a shorter term for alonger one. Commutation is the prerogative of the chief executive (president orgovernor), who possesses the power of executive clemency. A commutation can begranted only after a conviction, whereas other forms of clemency, such as apardon, can be granted at any time. Also, a commutation merely lessenspunishment, while a pardon removes all legal disabilities of a conviction.