In an action for violation of a bylaw, the process may issue against the body of the defendant and if he or she is found guilty, and it appears to the court before whom the action is tried that the cause of action arose from wilful or malicious act or neglect of the defendant it shall so adjudge, and shall further adjudge that the defendant ought to be confined in close jail, and may issue execution against the body of such defendant with a certificate of such finding indorsed thereon; and such execution with such certificate thereon shall have the same effect as an execution issued on a judgment founded upon tort with a like certificate indorsed thereon.