_Peregrina judicia_, 418
Périgord, secrecy of trials forbidden, 496
Perjurers sent to ordeal, 392
Perjury, degrees of, 29
penance for, 30
retribution for, 31
punishment of, 168
by demoniacal possession, 372
conjurators liable for, 63
temptation to, in compurgation, 85
duel used for its suppression, 120
defeat in duel is equivalent to, 167
divine punishment of, in India, 267
allowed with sufficient motive, 268
ordeal of cross for, 337
Persians, ancient, ordeals among, 265
Peru, fees for torturing in, 511
Pescara, abbey of, duel adjudged to, 157
Peter, St., his assistance in duel purchased, 138
oaths on his relics, 372
power of his intercession, 378
Peter, Bishop, case of, 65, 390
Peter Cantor denounces the duel, 162, 207
argues against ordeals, 310, 401, 418
on refusal of ordeal, 411
on fees for ordeals, 416
Peter Bartholomew, his fire ordeal, 308
Petrobatalla of Soavo, 196
Petrus Igneus, his fire ordeal, 305
Phelipot de Monine, case of, 501
Philadelphia, belief in bier-right, 368
Philippe II. (France) enforces the _lex talionis_, 170
regulates weapons in duel, 176
his charter to Tournay, 54, 202, 386
restricts use of ordeals, 421
Philippe le Hardi allows duels, 222
Philippe le Bel prescribes compurgation, 77
represses the duel, 222
his Ordonnance of 1306, 167, 223
remonstrates against torture, 486
Philippe le Long exempts Jews from duel, 149
duel becoming obsolete, 228
prohibits secrecy of trials, 496
Philippe de Valois restricts abusive appeals, 228
Philip II. (Spain), his torture of Don Carlos, 468
regulates torture in Flanders, 521
Philip of Alsace, his charters, 202
Philippe le Bon abolishes the duel, 231
Philippines, ordeals in the, 257
Philotas, his torture, 433, 448
Phocion threatened with torture, 433
_Phratriæ_, Hellenic, 15
Piacenza, disappearance of duel in, 236
Picardy, use of duel in, 227
Piedmont, bier-right in, 365
perjury followed by death, 372
Pietro, Bishop of Florence, convicted by ordeal, 305
Pilgrim, torture of, in Bavaria, 473
Pisa, duel limited in, 200
Piso, conspiracy of, 437
Pitto, his duel with Adalulf, 113
Pius IV., his trial of Cardinal Caraffa, 541
Pius V. orders torture to discover accomplices, 516
Plaintiff (see also _Accuser_).
value of his oath, 98
obliged to accept the duel, 140, 141
punishment of defeated, 167
can demand ordeal, 386
Plantagenets endeavor to use torture, 565
Plead, torture for refusal to, 541
punishment for, 574
Plebeian ordeals, 292
Ploughshares, red-hot, ordeal of, 287, 289
Plouvier and Mahuot, duel of, 232
Poison ordeals in Africa, 254
in Madagascar, 256
among the Khonds, 258
Bitter Water among Hebrews, 262
in Greece, 270, 375
in India, 375
Poisoning, duel necessary in cases of, 144
red-hot iron ordeal for, 291
use of torture for, in Rome, 439
Poitiers, council of, 1100, on simony, 66
Poland, _wer-gild_ in, 16
prolonged use of compurgation, 83
duel abolished, 239
torture introduced, 509
modern use of torture, 588
Polus, Philippe, case of, 555
Pons of Andaone, his improvised ordeal, 285
Popes, their opposition to the duel, 207
to the ordeal, 409, 414
they prohibit the ordeal, 417
Poppo, Bishop, converts the Danes by the ordeal, 295
_Præjuramentum_, 95
_Prauda jeliezo_, 274
Prayer before duel efficacious, 138
preliminary to ordeal, 280
escape from ordeal by, 298
in fire-test of relics, 315
Pre-Aryan races of India, ordeals of, 258, 291, 344
Precautions before duel, 138
against magic arts in ordeal, 407
Prelates as temporal seigneurs, 161
assert jurisdiction over the duel, 162
their interest in ordeals, 415
liable to ordeal, 417
Prerogative, royal, torture under, 567
Presles, Raoul de, his torture, 494
Pressing to death, 574
Previous offences, torture to discover, 501
in Germany, 546
Pricking for witches, 571
Priest, hand of, oath taken on, 30
Priests (see also _Clerics_).
disculpatory oaths of, 28
number of conjurators for, 36, 43
their oaths, 36
penance for engaging in duel, 156
administration of ordeals by, 276, 409
sinful, warning of Eucharist, 346
the ordeal part of their functions, 413
their control of the ordeal, 414
their influence augmented by ordeals, 417
forbidden to minister in ordeal, 419
their exemption from torture in Rome, 438
torture the slaves of their churches, 554
Privileges of administering ordeals, 415
_Procès ordinaire_ and _extraordinaire_, 499
Professional champions, 184
Profits of jurisdiction over duel, 218
derived from ordeals, 415
Proof required of accuser, 74
Property acquired by duel, 111
Dante approves of, 211
Prosecutor to be present at ordeal, 405
Protestant clergy degraded before torture, 527
Prussia, ordeals introduced by the Teutonic knights, 423
torture restricted, 579
still used, 582
Prudentius, his description of tortures, 449
Pselli, ordeal to prove legitimacy, 273
Psillus seeds, 408
Pseudo-Isidor on clerical immunity, 414
Publicity of criminal procedure, 471, 496
withdrawn in inquisitorial process, 513
Publius Syrus, his estimate of torture, 447
Punishment of conjurators, 64
of defeated witnesses, 120
for refusing duel, 131
of default in duel, 144, 145, 173
of defeat in duel, 167
of defeated champions, 184
of hired champions, 191
ordeal as, 391
torture as, 579
without conviction, 519, 528
for refusal to plead, 574
corporal, none in Barbarian laws, 451
_Purgatio canonica_, 37
_Purgatio vulgaris_, 282
Purgatorial power of oaths, 22
_Purrikeh_, 269
Pyrrhus, his indestructible toe, 314
Quæstors, their functions as torturers, 444
Quarrel over compurgation, 39
Quercy, secrecy of trials forbidden, 496
_Question avec réserve des preuves_, 518
_définitive_ or _préalable_, 515, 517, 547
not allowed in Rome, 445
used in Massachusetts, 569
in Denmark, 562
abolished in France, 585
_ordinaire_ and _extraordinaire_, 516
_préparatoire_, 515, 517
abolished in France, 585
Quintilian, his estimate of torture, 447
Quintus Curtius, his estimate of torture, 448
_Rachinborgs_, 53
_Radenicht_, 47
Raguald, code of, torture not used in, 563
_Raith_, 38
_Raithmen_, 39
their character, 45
their oath, 60
Rajmahal, hill-tribes of, 14
ordeals in, 258
red-hot iron ordeal, 291
ordeal of salt, 344
Ramayana, ordeal in, 267
Ramgur, ordeal of endurance at, 339
Ramon de Peñafort, his definition of duel, 117
condemns the duel, 209
denounces ordeals, 420
Rank, distinction of, in duel, 141, 149
prevents torture under Wisigoths, 460
high, entitles to use of champions, 194
Raoul de Caen on lance of St. Andrew, 309
Raoulin du Pré, torture of, 500
Rape, duels of women for, 153
Ratification of confession under torture required, 463, 482
in France, 514
of evidence given under torture, 542
Ratisbon, compurgation in, 80
exempted from duel, 204
Diet of, adopts Caroline Constitutions, 524
Raymond d’Agiles on lance of St. Andrew, 309
Raymond Bernard of Foix, his duel, 222
Rebellion, torture retained for, in Prussia, 579
Receiver and thief, duel between, 136, 171
Recipe for unguent against fire, 408
Records of court altered by the duel, 135
_Recreantise_, 168
Red-hot iron ordeal—
in Ethiopia, 256
in Madagascar, 257
among the Khonds, 258
among the Arabs, 264
in Greece, 270
among Slavs, 274
its use in Europe, 287
in India, 289
a patrician or plebeian ordeal, 291, 293
cases of its use, 294
universality of its employment, 298
used for sorcery and witchcraft, 300, 409
miraculous cases, 301
used in cases of heresy, 411, 419
Red water, ordeal of, 254
Redemption of hand for compurgators, 64
for champion, 168
Reduplicated oaths, 28
Refusal of duel, penalty for, 131
of ordeal, burning for, 411
to plead, torture for, 541
Reginger accuses Henry IV., 133
Regulations of the duel, 166
Reims, the _jusjurandum in jure_ in, 22
champions denied to witnesses, 121
restriction on champions, 194
duel in archiepiscopal court, 162
Archbishop of, convicts heretic by ordeal, 411
Council of, 1119, on compurgation, 57
sanctions ordeal, 412
in 1157, uses ordeal for heretics, 411
council of, 1408, on torture, 505
Reinward of Minden, his murder, 363
Relics, importance of, in oaths, 29
necessary in Wales, 30
not required at the gallows, 563
oaths on, 372
tested by hot-water ordeal, 283
tested by fire, 314
Remy of Dorchester cleared by the ordeal, 295
Réné of Lorraine grants the duel, 233
Reparation of insults to champions, 188
Repentance secures escape in ordeal, 297, 310, 402
Repeated accusations, 45
Repetition of torture illegal in Castile, 466
three times in Britanny, 504
forbidden in France, 513, 517
practised in France, 515
authorized, 529
unlimited, 500
for retracted confession, 463, 548
Report, common, justifies torture, 537
Representation in succession, 129
Repute, liability to ordeal depends upon, 384, 388, 392
Reserving the evidence, 519
Responsibility of accuser, 384, 385, 386, 440, 445, 446, 449, 458, 460
of conjurators, 64
of judge, 458, 460, 465, 467, 507, 515, 523, 533, 565
of the kindred, 14, 18, 19
Restoration, torture under, in Spain, 583
Restrictions on the duel, 140
on use of champions, 189
on torture eluded, 529
Results of ordeal in doubt, 405
Retraction of confession in Sicilian Constitutions, 482
under torture, 463
questions concerning, 548
torture for, 522
absolves accused, 550
of evidence, witnesses tortured for, 550
Retribution for perjury, 31
Revenues derived from ordeals, 415
Reversal of judgment, penalty of, 124, 126
Rhine, ordeal of the, 273
Rhodians, use of torture by, 433
Rice, swallowing, as an ordeal, 258
Richard I. at the funeral of Henry II., 360
torture of his page, 474
Richard II. challenges Charles V., 106
Richardis, Empress, undergoes the ordeal, 293
_Richstich Landrecht_, on use of lawyers, 70
appeal from judgment, 127
duel necessary in homicide, 142
infamy of champions, 188
ordeal for convicts, 393
ordeals in 14th century, 424
no allusion to torture, 480
Rickius on hot-water ordeal, 283
on cold-water ordeal in witchcraft, 329
on ordeal of balance, 335
Riculfus tortured by Fredegonda, 455
Riga, its merchants exempted from the duel, 204
Rights connected with the duel, 219
Riom exempted from duel, 203
Ripuarian Laws, duel in, 113, 118
fire ordeal used, 305
ordeal of the lot, 353
ordeal in failure of compurgation, 390
Risbach, council of, 799, prescribes iron ordeal, 291
Rituals of ordeals, 276, 394, 413
Robbers not to act as champions, 186
Robbery, torture for, in Prussia, 579
Robert the Pious, his notion of perjury, 31
forbids ordeal of Eucharist, 349
Robert III. (Scotland), torture not used under, 572
Robert Curthose tests his sons by the ordeal, 294
Robert the heretic convicted by ordeal, 411
Rodolph I. limits the duel, 205
his charter to Styria, 213
intervenes against torture, 476
Rodolph II. confirms privilege of Lorraine, 238
Rodriguez de los Puertos, case of, 540
Roger of Naples, his charter to Bari, 201
Roman law, grades of proof in, 21
importance of oaths in, 21
its influence on compurgation, 72
rejects negative proofs, 74
its centralization, 78
its influence on the duel, 211
its influence on ordeals, 426
its regulations of torture, 435
its influence on the Goths, 456
its influence in Germany, 524
its influence in Scotland, 572
rejected in England, 566
Romans, traces of ordeals among, 270
Rome, guarantees of oaths, 26
oaths of priests in, 36
council of, 384, condemns torture, 477
Rosbach, Emerich von, his work on criminal law, 525
Rotharis, his law on compurgation, 47
forbids withdrawal of confession, 52
prescribes the judicial duel, 113
restricts the judicial duel, 114
Rotruda, St., her relics tested with fire, 316
Roumania, modern use of torture, 588
Royal courts not liable to appeal, 126
_Ruaille_, 168
Rumor suffices to justify torture, 537
Russia, the _Mir_, 15
_wer-gild_, 15
early use of duel, 110
no limitation of weapons, 178
duels with foreigners prohibited, 178
use of champions, 195
exemption of German traders, 204
duel abolished, 238
use of ordeals, 274
water and iron ordeals, 292
converted by ordeal of fire, 310
household ordeal for theft, 334
bier-right, 359
ordeal in all cases, 386
for accuser, 389
torture introduced, 509
abolished, 581
used in political cases, 587
Sachentages, 477
_Sachsenspiegel_—
value or purgatorial oaths, 23
compurgation, 81
appeals from judgment, 126
limitations on the duel, 141
difference of rank, 151
champions for the dead, 152
guardians must provide champions, 153
penalty for defeat in duel, 171
penalty for default in duel, 173
weapons provided for the poor, 175
advantages equally divided, 177
regulations of use of champions, 181
disabilities of champions, 188
duel condemned by Gregory XI., 210, 420
use of hot-water ordeal, 283
accused selects the ordeal, 292, 383
land titles settled by ordeal, 324
ordeal for convicts, 393
no allusion to torture, 480
_Sachsische Weichbild_—
formula of oath, 26
purgatorial oath of father, 41
compurgation, 81
kinship an impediment to duel, 141
wounds sufficing for duel, 142
difference of rank, 151
penalty for defeat in duel, 171
penalty for default in duel, 173
use of champions, 181
infamy of champions, 187
hiring of champions forbidden, 190
duel only in criminal cases, 204
the dead cleared by ordeal, 294
ordeal for convicts, 393
_Sacramentales_ (see _Conjurators_).
Sacrifices as guarantee of oaths, 26
Sacrificial ordeals, 258
_Saighi_, 18
St. Adrian of Zala, abbey of, 157
St. Aignan, chapter of, challenges a knight, 159
St. Albans, abbey of, its claims for the duel, 162
St. Andrews, bishop of, exempted from duel, 159
witch-pool of, 330
St. Aubin, abbey of, its duel, 158
St. Bascul, council of, 395
St. Bonnet, customs of, 219
St. Brieuc, Bishop of, orders the duel, 164
St. Disier, torture not used in, 497
St. Martin-des-Champs, use of torture, 499
St. Omer, its traders exempted from the duel, 204
Saint-Pé, abbey of, its fees for ordeals, 415
St. Quentin, challenging of courts, 124
council of, 1235, complains of St. Louis, 217
St. Remy, abbey of, decrees the duel, 163
St. Sergius, case of priory of, 137
St. Sever, abbey of, gains land by ordeal, 323
St. Vaast d’Arras, abbey of, 164
Saints’ tombs, oaths on, 372
Salaried champions, 192, 196
Salic law, use of compurgation in, 34
number of compurgators, 42
compurgation in default of testimony, 52
penalties of conjurators, 64
accusatorial conjurators, 94
judicial duel in, 112, 118
ordeal of hot water, 274, 282
hot-water ordeal for Antrustions, 323
enforcement of the ordeal, 383
compounding for the ordeal, 384
ordeal in failure of compurgation, 390
torture of slaves, 452
Salisbury, Bishop and Earl of, duel between, 139
Salt, blessed, used in ordeal, 281
lumps of, used as ordeal, 257
Salvation, exclusive, results of belief in, 589
Salzburg, council of, 799, prescribes the ordeal, 409
Samaritan legend of fire-test, 314
Samoa, punishment of perjury, 374
Samoiedes, oath ordeal among, 259
Sanballat, his triumph in fire-test, 314
Sancar, his ordeal, 290
Sanctio of Orleans, his trial for simony, 61
Sand-bag used in duels, 244
_Sandemend_, 562
Sanila and Bera, duel of, 117
Sapor I., his religious reforms, 267
_Saraad_, 55
Saracens, duels with Christians forbidden, 151
Saragossa, council of, 592, tests relics by fire, 315
Sardinia, perjury on relics, 374
Sassanids, ordeals under the, 267
Sassy-bark, ordeal of, 254
Satan, aids witches in ordeals, 300, 327, 328, 332
in torture, 555
_Satane_ ordeal, 258
_Sathee_, 344
Savonarola, his _Sperimento di fuoco_, 311
Saxon laws (see also _Sachsenspiegel_)—
purgatorial oaths in, 23
reclamation of stolen horse, 26
judicial duel in, 114
Saxons offer duel to Luitzes, 130
Saxony, torture in 1130, 474
no defence allowed to accused, 544
exile for retracted confession, 549
abolition of torture, 580
Sayn, Count, his compurgation, 89
Scandinavian nations, torture not used by, 562
Scavenger’s Daughter, the, 569
_Scheingehen_, 365
Schoolmen on duel and ordeal, 209
_Schwabenspiegel_, value of oaths, 24
purgatorial oath of father, 41
compurgation retained, 80
faith in judgment of God, 102
judges must be vigorous men, 123
appeals from judgment, 126
theory of guilt, 136
limitations on the duel, 141
difference of rank, 150
cripples must provide champions, 152
duels of women, 153
penalty for defeat in duel, 171
penalty for default in duel, 173
penalty of bail of defaulter, 174
disabilities of champions, 188
hired champions forbidden, 190
use of hot-water ordeal, 283
accused selects the ordeal, 292, 383
ordeal in default of evidence, 387
for convicts, 393
no allusion to torture, 480
Schwartzenberg challenges von Hutten, 238
Schwerin, Synod of, condemns the duel, 210
Scialoja, his work on torture, 525
Scipio, oath administered by, 271
Scober, James, a witch-pricker, 571
Scone, abbey of, its jurisdiction, 162
Scotland, use of compurgation, 34
selection of conjurators in, 44
compurgation in default of evidence, 53
compurgation for the aged, 57
compurgation retained, 82
first evidence of duel in, 162
champions as witnesses, 183
use of champions, 192
charters exempting from duel, 201
restrictions on duel in towns, 203
persistence of duel, 239
cold-water ordeal for slaves, 323
cold-water ordeal for witchcraft, 330
cases of bier-right, 361
bribes in ordeal forbidden, 406
ordeals disused, 421
use of torture in, 572
abolition of torture, 574
witch-burning in 1722, 575
Scottish Marches, duel universal, 145
liability of clerics to duel, 158
death does not release from duel, 174
Scourging as torture, 466, 467
a torture for children, 528
for retracted confession, 549
Scribonius on cold-water ordeal in witchcraft, 327
_Scuz iarn_, 288
Sebakemsauf, violation of his tomb, 430
Secrecy of inquisitorial process, 496, 513, 546
_Secta_, 84, 96
Secular law, exemption from, for clerics, 414
jurisdiction of prelates, 161
legislation against ordeals, 421
Security required of combatants, 173
_Seguidors_, 51
Seigneur, his power over the villein, 490
Sejanus, plot of, 435
Selection of compurgators, 38
of mode of compurgation, 383
Selingenstadt, council of, 1023, prescribes the ordeal, 410
Semites, ordeals among, 260
torture among, 430
_Semperfri_, 150
Senan, St., his golden bell, 397
Senchus Mor, duel prescribed in, 109
Senckenberg reprints Zanger’s treatise, 578
Senlis, case of torture in, 491
Sens, Archbishop of, compelled to duel, 159
Sentence of torture, appeals from, in Castile, 465, 467
consultation over, in France, 507, 513
appeal from, in Germany, 545
deliberation required for, 547
its revision in Saxony, 580
Sepulture denied to duellists, 207, 210
Serfs allowed to bear testimony, 122
cannot challenge freemen, 140
and master, no duel between, 146
duels between, 149
cold-water ordeal for, 322
Servia, survival of the duel, 239
Servitude must be proved before torture, 438
Severity of ordeal, 394
of torture, limitations eluded, 532
of the strappado, 543
Severus, Sept., on evidence of slaves against masters, 444
_Sexhendeman_, 47
Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, their ordeal, 304
Shakespeare, his description of bier-right, 360
Shaving of witches to neutralize charms, 556
Shaving, sin of, in laymen, 403
Shells used in ordeal, 257
Sheriff selects compurgators, 48
his presence required at ordeal, 406
Shower-bath, punishment of, 510
Shrewsbury, Countess of, her case, 570
Shrift of combatant, 242
Shrines of saints, oaths on, 372
_Shu-king_, its theo-philosophy, 252
Siawush, fire ordeal of, 266
Sicily, modern use of torture, 587
_Sicularum Constitutiones_—
no compurgation in, 75
defendant allowed choice of weapons, 177
champions as witnesses, 183
punishment of defeated champion, 185
champions provided at public expense, 190
severe restriction on duel, 212
ordeals prohibited, 422
use of torture, 482
Sieve-driving, ordeal of, 358
Sigurd Thorlaksson, case of, 404
Silanus, prosecution of, 443
Silence under torture does not acquit, 519
Simancas on compurgation for heresy, 89
on universality of torture, 468
disapproves deceit in witch-trials, 559
Simon de Montfort limits the duel, 208
Simony, trials for, 59, 62, 350
compurgation for, 92
Simple ordeals, 278, 287, 391
Simplicius, St., of Autun, his ordeal, 305
Sinking requisite in cold-water ordeal, 318
Sins, previous, cause failure in duel, 137
cause failure in ordeal, 403
Sita, ordeal undergone by, 267
Skevington, Sir Wm., invents a torture, 569
_Skirsla_ or ordeal of turf, 274
Slavs, communities among, 15
prolonged use of compurgation, 83
use of judicial duel, 110
ordeals used by, 274
of Mecklenburg, ordeal introduced, 277
Slaves cleared by master’s oath, 22
ordeal in default of master’s oath, 390
their right to the duel, 148
ordeal for, in Rome, 272
red-hot iron ordeal for, 291, 292
fire ordeal for, 306
cold-water ordeal for, 322
ordeal of the lot, 353
subjected to ordeal, 394
as vicarious victims in ordeal, 396
torture reserved for, in Greece, 433
their evidence requires torture in Greece, 433
tortured as witnesses in Rome, 441
restriction on, 445, 446
by their owners in Rome, 444
torture of, under Ostrogoths, 457
under Wisigoths, 458
under Barbarians, 451, 452
in civil suits in Germany, 530
of churches tortured by priests, 554
unprotected in Iceland, 562
not tortured against their masters in Rome, 442
except in treason, 443
other exceptions, 444
under Wisigoths, 459
in Spain, 464
tortured, damage paid to master in Rome, 445
among the Barbarians, 452
in Castile, 468
thief sold as, in Wales, 564
Slavery, its extent in Greece, 433
its extent in Rome, 441
Slavonia, use of compurgation, 84
Sleeplessness, torture of (see _Vigils_).
Smith, Sir Thos., on use of torture, 567
Snake-fang, ordeal of, 254
Soaper’s case, in appeal of death, 247
Soavo, champion of, 196
Soest, accusatorial conjurators in laws of, 97
exempted from duel, 202
Soissons, Bishop of, uses ordeal for heretics, 410
Chapter of, duel in its court, 224
council of, 853, uses the ordeal, 410
the vase of, 450
Solidarity of the family, 14
in Lombard Law, 48
Somali, ordeals among the, 256
Son to be tortured in presence of father, 543
his evidence against parents in witch-trials, 554
Sophocles, ordeals enumerated by, 270
Sorcerers, loss of weight by, 326, 335
tortured in Rome, 439
their punishment by Theodoric, 457
their evidence not received, 523
unconscious, 553
Sorcery forbidden in duels, 139
in ordeal, 407
duel in trial for, 230
red-hot iron ordeal for, 291, 300, 409
use of cold-water ordeal, 325
torture in accusations of, 469
used to justify torture, 539
detention after torture without confession, 551
torture necessary in trials for, 554
_Sortes sanctorum_, 354
Southampton, ordeal of Bible and key, 357
South Carolina, compurgation in, 88
appeal of death in, 247
Spain (see also _Wisigothic Laws_).
_jusjurandum in jure_, 22
purgatorial oaths, 24
simplicity of oaths, 32
use of compurgation, 34, 75
selection of compurgators, 49
compurgation of Alfonso VI., 67
negative proofs rejected, 74
compurgation in the _Fuero Viejo_, 80
duel among Celtiberians, 108
introduction of Roman ritual, 132, 313
Catalonia, limitation on duel, 146
Aragon, limit of value for duel, 148
difference of rank in duels, 151
ordeals for women, 154
use of champions, 195
charters exempting from duel, 202
restrictions on the duel, 214
use of hot-water ordeal, 281
red-hot iron ordeal, 288
paternity proved by iron ordeal, 294
Arian relics tested by fire, 315
truce of God enforced by ordeal, 323
ordeal of Eucharist, 351
bier-right, 366
ordeal for loose women, 393
escape of adulteress in ordeal, 403
decline of ordeals, 423
torture under the Goths, 458
mediæval and modern, 462
irregular use of, 476
abolished in 1811, 583
_Speculum Saxonicum_ (see _Sachsenspiegel_).
_Speculum Suevicum_ (see _Schwabenspiegel_).
_Sperimento di fuoco_ of Savonarola, 311
Spies, use of in witch-trials, 558
Spiritual courts, duel in, 155
ordeal in, 409
torture in, 510
Spoon, ordeal of the, 264
Spot, insensible, of witches, 571
Sprenger admits lawfulness of duel, 213
objects to ordeal in witchcraft, 300
no allusion to cold-water ordeal, 326
his explanation of bier-right, 369
recommends deceit, 559
_Sringa_, 375
Staff, ordeal of, 397
_Stalla hringr_, 95
Stansfield, Philip, case of, 361
_Stapfsaken_, 274
_Stare ad crucem_, 336
Stars, duel to end when they appear, 178
Starvation and cold employed as torture, 530
State questions decided by duel, 130
Statute of Gloucester, 242
Staundford, Sir Wm., on ordeals, 426
Steil, historic duel at, 129
Stephen, St., supplies champions for abbey, 157
ordeals not in his laws, 277
Stephen V. condemns the ordeal as a torture, 395
Stephen VII. condemns Formosus, 382
Stercorarian heresy proved by ordeal, 411
_Stockneffn_, 49
Stonyng’s case, torture in, 568
Strangers, fire ordeal for, 306
subject to torture in Greece, 433
Strappado, the, 466, 467
description of, 516
five degrees of, 543
Strassburg, heretics convicted by ordeal, 297, 419
Stream of water, torture of, 510
Style’s “Practical Register,” 86
Styria, duel restricted in, 212
Styx, oath of the gods on its water, 371
Suabia, use of oaths in, 32, 24
accusatorial conjurators, 98
Subico of Speyer takes ordeal of Eucharist, 348
Substitutes in the ordeal, 295, 337, 390, 398, 400
for torture, 578, 580, 582, 583
Succession, law of, decided by duel, 129
Sudra caste, oaths required of, 25
cold-water ordeal used for, 320
Suidger of Munster, his improvised ordeal, 302
Sunset, duel to end at, 178
Superstition, its persistence, 427
Surlet, Gilles, case of, 505
Suspicion, ordeal for, 388
punishment for, 519
of incontinency, compurgation for, 87
of heresy, compurgation for, 88, 90
Swaddling cloth of Christ tested by fire, 315
Swantopluck of Bohemia, his use of torture, 476
Sweden, selection of compurgators, 49
prolonged use of compurgation, 82
accusatorial conjurators, 97
red-hot iron ordeal, 287, 298
paternity proved by the ordeal, 294
fees to priest for ordeal, 416
prelates liable to ordeal, 417
ordeals prohibited, 422
torture not used in, 563
Swinefield, Bishop, his hired champion, 192
Switzerland, torture abolished, 581
Synagogues, oaths taken in, 28
Syrians, duels with Franks, 151
Szegedin, witches tried by ordeal in 1730, 332, 335
Tacitus, his account of the Germans, 112
Tacitus (Emp.) on evidence of slave against master, 444
Tahiti, ordeal in, 257
_Talio_, the, applied to the duel, 143, 169
used in Ashantee, 255
in Rome, 440
applied to accusation of slaves in Rome, 445
for accusers under Wisigoths, 459
adopted by the Church, 513
rejected in inquisitorial process, 513
Tangena nut, ordeal of, 256
Tanner on number of witch-trials, 560
Taoism, its influence in China, 252
Tarbes, Cathedral of, its revenue from ordeals, 415
Tarragona, council of, 1244, on heresy, 89
Tassilo, allusion to ordeal by, 274
Tears, inability of witches to shed, 556
Teeth, question as to, in duel, 144
Templars offer to undergo the ordeal, 299
use of torture on, 486
torture of, in England, 511
Temple, the, oaths taken in, 27
Temporal jurisdiction of prelates, 161
Tempting of God in the ordeal, 207, 411
Terouane, torture in 1127, 474
_Testes synodales_, 41
_Testimonis_, 51
Testimony (see _Evidence_).
Teutberga, her divorce, 281
Teutonic Knights introduce the ordeal, 423
Texas, torture used in, 588
Thangbrand, Deacon, 199
Thebe, people of, float in water, 326
Theft, Russian ordeal for, 334
Theodore, penitential of, on oaths, 30
Theodore Lascaris prescribes the ordeal, 299
Theodoric tries to suppress judicial duel, 115
his use of torture, 457
Theodosius I. exempts priests from torture, 438
Thibaut of Champagne, his grant to church of Châteaudun, 415
Thief and receiver, duel between, 136, 171
Thieves convicted by the duel, 135
Thomas of Gloucester, his rules of duel, 171, 241
Thomas, Christian, opposed to torture, 577
Thumb, indestructible, of Pyrrhus, 314
Thuringians, kinsmen as champions, 180
minimum limit for duel, 147
red-hot iron ordeal, 291
Tiberius, his use of torture, 435
his devices to elude the laws, 443
Tibet, hot-water ordeal in, 269
_Tiers-État_, influence of, 200
_Tiht-bysig_ man sent to ordeal, 392
Tirel, Hugues, case of, 77
Tison, Marie, case of, 585
Tithes, contested, settled by ordeal, 410
Titles to land settled by duel, 182, 197
by cold-water ordeal, 324
_Tobbach_, 18
Toledo, council of, 683, on abuse of torture, 461
Tombs of saints, oaths on, 372
Tonga, punishment of perjury, 374
Tongue, red-hot iron ordeal applied to, 264, 289, 291, 293
Tooth-relic of Buddha tested by fire, 314
Toribio, St., limits fees for torturing, 511
Torture, 429
as preliminary to compurgation, 91
ordeal as preparatory to, 329
used as torture, 394
its influence on ordeals, 426
in Egypt and Asia, 400
in Greece, 432
limitations on, in Rome, 445
estimate of evidence under, in Rome, 446
under the Barbarians, 451
its use by the Goths, 456
in mediæval and modern Spain, 462
its repetition illegal, 466
under the Carlovingians, 469
its use for extortion, 476
condemned by the Church, 477
its reappearance in 13th century, 479
unlimited repetition, 500
to discover previous offence, 501, 546
is ecclesiastical law, 511
to discover accomplices, 484, 515, 517, 546, 562, 570, 584
of witnesses, 440, 453, 459, 533, 541
its influence on judges, 534
its abuse by judges, 539
in surplusage after conviction, 546
without confession is acquittal, 551
as punishment, 579
indispensable in witch-trials, 554
witches insensible to, 556
devices to elude, 558
use of, is homicide in England, 565
to compel pleading in England, 575
its decline and abolition, 575
substitutes for, 578, 580, 582, 583
Toulouse, duel forbidden there, 224
exempted from torture, 495
Tournay, charter of, 54, 392
exempted from duel, 202
Tours, council of, 813, on use of chrism in ordeal, 407
council of, 925, prescribes the ordeal, 410
_Tout Lieu de S. Disier_, 497
Towel of Christ tested by fire, 316
Towns, champions of, 196
Tower of London, torture in, 569
Townships, responsibility of, 42
Trade, its influence adverse to duel, 204
Trahent, André de, case of, 397
Trajan on evidence of slave against master, 443
Trallian laws, 15
Transylvania, witches tried by ordeal, 322
Travancore, ordeal abolished in, 284
Treason, duel necessary in cases of, 144
torture for, in Rome, 435, 438, 443
its extension in Rome, 436, 437
torture for, in Spain, 459, 463
torture of witnesses in cases of, 541
torture for, in Denmark, 562
torture for, in England, 568
nobles not tortured for, in England, 570
torture retained for, in Prussia, 579
Trebinje, ordeal for witches in 1857, 333
Trent, Bishop of, tried for simony, 62, 71
council of, prohibits the duel, 237
Trèves, Holy Coat of, 422
council of, 1227, forbids iron ordeal, 419
Treviño exempted from duel, 202
ordeals prohibited in, 424
Trial by jury, rise of, 48
by combat, 101
Tribal responsibility, 42
Tribur, council of, 895, on accusatorial conjurators, 96
prescribes the ordeal, 291, 410
ordeal for those outsworn, 390
Triple ordeals, 278, 287
_Triumviri capitales_, their functions as torturers, 444
Truce of God, enforcement of, 58, 323
_Trux iarn_, 287
Tucca, her ordeal, 271
Tudors, use of torture under, 566
Turks, divination among, 265
use of ordeal for witches, 333
Turf, ordeal of, 274
Tuscany, torture abolished, 586
_Twelfhendeman_, 47
Twins in Wales are one person, 177
_Twyhindus_, 47
Tyndareus, oath exacted by, 26
Tynemouth, priory of, its champion, 197
Uberto of Tuscany recognized by his son, 381
Ueberlingen, case of bier-right, 363
Ulpian, his estimate of torture, 446
Ulric of Cosheim, 133
Umbrians, judicial duel among, 108
Uncertainty of compurgation, 91
Unguents as protection in fire ordeals, 408
Unitas Fratrum, use of lot by, 355
United States, wager of law in, 88
appeal of death, 246
bier-right, 366
divining rod, 428
use of shower bath, 510
use of torture, 588
_Untersuchungschaft_, 582
Upstallesboom, laws of, ordeals obsolete in, 422
Upton, Nicholas, his work on the duel, 231
Urim and Thummim, 261
_Urpheda_, 550
Urraca, Queen, authorizes duel, 132
Usury, torture in cases of, 529
Uta, Queen, her compurgation, 40
Utrecht, case of fisherman of, 402
torture abandoned in, 577
_Vadiare legem_, 57
Vaisya caste, oaths required of, 25
cold-water ordeal used for, 320
Valdebran, abbey of, relic tested by fire, 317
Valence, council of, 855, represses abuse of oaths, 22
denounces the duel, 207
1248, denies counsel to accused, 487
Valenciennes, duel in 1455, 232
fees for torture in, 548
petitions for abolition of torture, 585
Valentinian I. exempts decurions from torture, 438
Valentinian II. applies _talio_ to accused slaves, 445
Valerius Maximus, his estimate of torture, 447
Vallombrosa, fire ordeal in, 305
Valtelline, limitations on torture in, 508
Value of conjuratorial oath, 62
of extorted confession, 462, 548, 550
Vannes, council of, 465, condemns the _sortes sanctorum_, 354
_Var nirang_, 266
Varieties of ordeal, 277
of torture, 536
in Greece, 434
in Rome, 449
in Castile, 465, 467
in England, 476
in Russia, 509
in France, 514, 516
in Scotland, 573
in Roumania, 588
Vasistha, ordeals unknown to, 268
Vassal and lord, no duel between, 146
Vaughan and Parker, duel of, 242
Vedas, ordeals in the, 267
Vehm-Gericht, accusatorial conjurators in, 99
Venezuela, use of torture, 583
Vengeance, legal recognition of, 13
Venice, rules for compurgation, 57
bier-right in, 365
use of torture, 507
Vercelli, Bishops of, their jurisdiction over duels, 164
Verdiersville, bier-right in, 368
Vermandois, appeals in, 125
nobles of, claim the duel, 227
Verona, council of, 983, on the duel, 131
limitation on duels, 146
penalty for defeat in duel, 169
champions appointed by the city, 189
regulations for champions, 195
ordeal of cross, 337
torture used in 1228, 481
Vestal virgins, exempt from taking oaths, 36
ordeals of, 271
Vezelai, heretics tried by ordeal, 411
Vicarious ordeals, 281, 295, 390, 398, 400
in Africa, 256
poison ordeal, 376
Vich, council of, 1068, orders the ordeal, 323
_Vidames_, 198
Vienna exempted from duel, 204
case of bier-right in, 364
Vienne, council of, 1311, case of Boniface VIII., 226
restricts torture in Inquisition, 511
Viescher, his treatise on the duel, 103
Viga Glum’s saga, 27
Vigils of Marsigli, torture of, 535, 552
insanity caused by, 588
severity of, in England, 570
severity of, in Scotland, 572
of Florence, 552
of Spain, 552
Villadiego, his description of torture,466
Village communities, 14
Villein not allowed to challenge judge, 124
and gentleman, duels between, 149
his subjection to his seigneur, 490
Villeneuve, case of torture in, 491
consuls exempted from torture, 499
Villon, his water torture, 514
Virgin Mary orders a duel, 209
Virginia, bier-right in, 366
Viry, jurisdiction of duel at, 163
_Vishanaga_, 376
Vishnu, his complicated ordeal system, 268
Vives, J. L., opposes torture, 576
Vladislas II. (Hungary) restricts the duel, 237
Vola, Zierkin von, his duel, 171
Voltaire opposes torture, 584
Volterra, Bishop of, his jurisdiction, 161
Voluntary perjury, penance for, 31
_Vomeres igniti_, 287
_Vorogeia_, 334
Vuillermoz, Guill., case of, 555
Wafer, consecrated, power of, 347
Wager of Law, the (see _Compurgation_).
its derivation, 57
Wager of Battle (see _Duel_).
Waldemar II., his Constitutions, 41
prohibits ordeal, 422
jury-trials in his laws, 562
Wales, solidarity of the family in, 15, 19
compensation for injuries, 17
responsibility for children, 20
oaths of absolution, 24
reduplicated oaths, 28
oaths on relics, 30
reverence for relics, 32
compurgation, 38
number of compurgators, 40, 44
character of compurgators, 45
compurgation supplants evidence, 55
_juramentum supermortuum_, 56
oath of conjurators, 60
judicial duel not used, 110
difference of rank in duels, 151
twins, their advantage in duels, 177
champions, reward of, 186
ordeals in suits with Saxons, 276
confession of accomplice at the gallows, 563
Wang-i, his two servants, 252
Warfare, private, among the Barbarians, 16
Warning to accused before torture, 532
Warrantors, 121
Water Ordeals (see _Hot Water_ and _Cold Water_).
Water from idol as ordeal, 344
torture, 514
torture of stream of, 509
will not receive perjurers, 319
or witches, 326
Weapons of witnesses blessed, 120
provided for pauper combatants, 175
choice of, 176
equality of, 177
Weight, loss of, by witches, 325, 334
Welf II. of Altorf subjected to ordeal, 323
Welf of Bavaria, 133
Wells, poisoning of, in France, 503
Wenceslas of Bohemia abolishes torture, 473
_Wer-gild_, 14
its character, 17
in Greece and Rome, 15
in Russia, 15
in Poland, 16
in Iceland, 18
in Ireland, 18
in Denmark, 18
in Wales, 19
of clerics, 20
among Moslem, 29
its connection with compurgation, 38
in Frisia in 14th century, 563
oath rated by, 47
Werner, J. F., defends use of torture, 578
West Prussia, ordeal for witches in, 322
Westminster, Abbey of, claims jurisdiction of duel, 162
Westphalia, accusatorial conjurators in, 97
cold-water ordeal in witchcraft, 327, 328, 331
Whipping as torture, 466
torture in cases involving, 530
Widows, exemption from duel in Bigorre, 146
torture of, among Gauls, 452
Wier on cold-water ordeal in witchcraft, 326, 328
Wife to be tortured in husband’s presence, 543
William I. (Engl.), introduces judicial duel, 115
penalty for defeat in duel, 168
William Rufus utilizes the ordeal, 295
William the Lion forbids bribery in ordeal, 406
William Clito, his privilege to St. Omer, 204
William of Ely and the Archbishop of York, 70
William of Utrecht, his ordeal of Eucharist, 351
Wills, fraudulent, torture of slaves in cases of, 443
Wilson, Christian, case of, 362
Wisigothic Laws, their authors, 458
oaths in, 22
compurgation not used, 34, 75
exclude evidence of kinsmen, 38
influence of Roman law, 116, 457
judicial duel not used, 116
judicial duel revived, 117
late introduction of ordeal, 275
ordeal preliminary to torture, 395
use of torture, 458
Witch-bridle, 572
Witchcraft, its influence on criminal law, 553
evidence of, insufficient, 554
Witches, Satan aids them in trials, 300, 555
loss of weight by, 325, 334
tortured for confession in Russia, 509
their evidence not received, 523
detected by boys with greased boots, 539
escape by revoking confession, 548
detention after torture without confession, 551
cruelties practised on, 552
their insensibility to torture, 556
Witch-mark, 571
Witchpool in Bay of St. Andrews, 330
Witch-pricking, 571
Witch-trials, red-hot iron ordeal for, 291, 300, 409
use of cold-water ordeal, 325
special ordeals for, 382
all rules set aside, 554
torture indispensable in, 555
shaving in, 556
use of deceit, 558
torture in, in England, 570
severity of, in Scotland, 572, 574
Withdrawal from duel forbidden, 144
Witikind, his duel with Charlemagne, 130
Witness, judge cannot act as, 509
Witnesses, are not conjurators, 38, 51
compurgation in default of, 52
confirmed by conjurators, 56
outweigh conjurators, 62
challenging of, 103, 120, 121
penalty of defeated, 120
come armed to court, 120
must be capable of fighting, 122
champions not allowed to, 121
champions for, 194
their protection in France, 123
seven necessary to avoid duel, 142
must offer battle, 143
defeated, lose a hand, 167
become champions, 182
champions debarred as, 187
women admitted, 228
allowed to give false evidence, 268
must be of the same race, 275
subjected to ordeal, 389
names of, given to accused in Castile, 469
examined in presence of accused, 504
contradictory, tortured together, 542
confrontation of, with accused, 517
necessary to justify torture, 523
their uselessness in witch-trials, 555
torture of, in Rome, 440
unknown to Barbarians, 453
practised in Castile, 464
in Milan, 506
not tortured in Piacenza, 507
tortured in Germany, 530
in modern times, 541
in advance, 542
for retracted evidence, 550
in monasteries, 560
slave, tortured in Greece, 433
restrictions on torture in Rome, 445, 446
their torture under Ostrogoths, 457
under Wisigoths, 459
Women incompetent as prosecutors, 18
admitted as compurgators, 50, 92
not received as witnesses, 122
admitted as witnesses, 228
allowed champions in duel, 152
liable to duel, 153
ordeals for, in Spain, 154
hot-water or iron ordeal for, 292
buried or burned alive in capital cases, 503
buried alive for defeat in duel, 153, 170
burnt for defeat in duel, 173
abuse of, in cold-water ordeal, 417
tortured in Rome for poisoning, 439
pregnant, not subject to torture in Rome, 446
not tortured in Spain, 463, 466
exempt from torture in Germany, 523, 528
tortured in Iceland, 561
Worms exempted from duel, 205
council of, 829, prohibits cold-water ordeal, 322
council of, 868, on ordeal of Eucharist, 348
Wounds, severity of, requisite for duel, 142
Writings tested by fire, 313
_Wunden kampffbaren_, 142
Würtemburg, torture abolished, 581
Wurzburg, council of, 1298, prohibits ordeals, 423
Yahveh-worship, its seat tested by fire, 314
York, Archbishop of, and William of Ely, 70
York, miraculous escape in ordeal, 297
Ypres, selection of compurgators, 48
exempted from duel, 201
torture not used in, 497
Zabolcs, council of, 1092, on fees for ordeals, 416
_Zadruga_, the Slavonic, 16
Zala, Abbey of, its champions, 157
Zanger, Johann, his treatise on torture, 524, 578
Zends, ordeal among, 265, 295
torture not legally used, 431
Zerbst, effective torture in, 579
Zerubabbel, his defeat in fire test, 314
Zoroaster exposed to fire ordeal, 266
converts Gushtasp by the ordeal, 295
Zug, modern use of torture, 588
Zurich, priest of, uses unconsecrated host, 345
FOOTNOTES
[1] Legg. Villæ de Arkes § xxviii. (D’Achery Spicileg. III. 608).
[2] See Pictet, Origines Indo-Européennes (Paris, 1878, T. II.
pp. 372-6; T. III. pp. 5-8), for the philological evidence of the
development of society from the family in all the Aryan nations.
[3] Vendidad, Farg. IV. 24-35 (Bleeck’s Translation, Hertford, 1864,
pp. 30-1).
[4] Manava Dharma Sastra, VIII. 295 sqq. Comp. Maine’s Ancient Law, pp.
260 sqq.
[5] Yajnavalkya, II. 272 (Stenzler’s Translation).
[6] Even among the remnants of the pre-Aryan races of India the
same customs are traceable. Early in the present century Lieutenant
Shaw described the hill-tribes of Rajmahal, to the north of Bengal,
as recognizing the responsibility of the injurer to the injured;
compensation was assessed at the pleasure of the complainant, and the
kindred of the offender were compelled to contribute to it, exactly as
among the barbarians who occupied Europe (Asiatic Researches, Vol. IV.).
[7] Dicæarchi Frag. (Didot, Frag. Hist. Græcor.).—Apollodor. Biblioth.
II. vi. 2-3.—Diodor. Siculi IV. 31.—Plut. Quæst. Græc. 46.—Maine’s
Ancient Law, p. 127.
[8] Tit. Liv. I. 26; V. 32.—Appiani de Bell. Hannibal. xxviii.—Dion.
Halicar. II. 10; XIII. 5.
[9] Esneaux, Hist. de Russie, I. 172 sqq.
[10] Jo. Herburti de Fulstin Statut. Reg. Polon. tit. _Homicid._
(Samoscii, 1597, pp. 200 sqq.). In cases, however, of homicide
committed by a _kmetho_, or serf, upon another, a portion of the
_wer-gild_ was paid to the magistrate.
[11] See an abstract of Bojisic’s work on the customs of the southern
Slavs, in the “Penn Monthly” Magazine, Phi’a, Jan. 1878, pp. 15 sqq.
[12] Gradually, however, a portion of the composition money was
attributed, under the name of _fredum_, to the king or the magistrate,
as a compensation for readmitting the criminal to the public peace.
[13] Ll. Edwardi C. xii. (Thorpe’s Ancient Laws, I. 467).
[14] Gwentian Code, Bk. II. chap. vii. §8. (Aneurin Owen’s Ancient
Laws, etc. of Wales, I. 701.)
[15] Senchus Mor, I. 259 (Hancock’s ed. Dublin, 1865).
[16] Grágás, Sect. IV. cap. cxiv.
[17] Ibid. Sect. VIII. cap. lv.
[18] Jarnsida, Mannhelge, cap. xxix.—Cf. Legg. Gulathingenses,
Mannhelgi, cap. xii.
[19] Constit. Eric. Ann. 1269 § vii. (Ludewig, Reliq. MSS. T. XII. p.
204).
[20] Dimetian Code, Bk. II. ch. i. §§ 17-31.—Bk. III. ch. iii.
§4.—Anomalous Laws, Bk. IV. ch. iii. § 11.
[21] Dimetian Code, Bk. II. chap. xxiv. § 12.
[22] Roisin, Franchises, etc. de la ville de Lille, pp. 106-7.
[23] Charta Balduini Hannoniens. (Martene, Collect. Ampliss. I. 964.)
[24] Capitul. Lib. IV. cap. 15.
[25] Concil. Tribur. an. 895, can. iv.
[26] Dimetian Code, Bk. II. chap. i. § 32.
[27] Venedotian Code, Bk. III. chap. i. § 21.
[28] The oath may be regarded as the foundation of Roman legal
procedure—“Dato jurejurando non aliud quæritur, quam an juratum sit;
remissa quæstione an debeatur; quasi satis probatum sit jurejurando”—L.
5, § 2, D. XII. ii. The _jusjurandum necessarium_ could always be
administered by the judge in cases of deficient evidence, and the
_jusjurandum in jure_ proffered by the plaintiff to the defendant was
conclusive: “Manifestæ turpitudinis et confessionis est nolle nec
jurare nec jusjurandum referre”—Ibid. l. 38.
[29] Ll. Wisigoth. Lib. II. Tit. ii. c. 5.
[30] Concil. Valentin. ann. 855, c. xi.
[31] Ll. Ripuar. Tit. XII. § 1; ix. 17.—Capit. Ludov. Pii. ann. 819
add. ad L. Salicam, c. 15.—Capitul. L. IV. c. 29.—Ivonis Decr. XVI. 239.
[32] De presbytero vero, si quilibet sacerdos a populo fuerit
accusatus, si certi non fuerint testes qui criminis illati approbent
veritatem, jusjurandum erit in medio, et illum testem proferat de
innocentiæ suæ puritate cui nuda et aperta sunt omnia; sicque maneat in
proprio gradu.—Gregor. PP. II. Epist. XIV. ad Bonifacium. Cf. Hincmari
Remens. Epist. XXII.
[33] Thus Alfonso the Wise endeavored to introduce into Spain the
mutual challenging of the parties involved in the Roman _jusjurandum
in jure_, by his _jura de juicio_ (Las Siete Partidas, P. III. Tit.
xi. l. 2. Cf. Espéculo, Lib. V. Tit. xi. ley 2). Oddly enough, the
same procedure is found incorporated in the municipal law of Rheims
in the fourteenth century, probably introduced by some over-zealous
civilian; “Si alicui deferatur jusjurandum, necesse habet jurare vel
referre jusjurandum, et hoc super quovis debito, vel inter quasvis
personas”—Lib. Pract. de Consuetud. Remens. § 15 (Archives Législat. de
Reims, P. I. p. 37). By this time, however, the oaths of parties had
assumed great importance. In the legislation of St. Louis, they occupy
a position which was a direct incentive to perjury. Thus he provides
for the hanging of the owner of a beast which had killed a man, if
he was foolish enough not to swear that he was ignorant of its being
vicious. “Et si il estoit si fox que il deist que il seust la teche de
la beste, il en seroit pendus pour la recoignoissance”—Établissements,
Liv. I. chap. cxxi.
A charter granted to the commune of Lorris, in 1155, by Louis le
Jeune, gives to burghers the privilege of rebutting by oath, without
conjurators, an accusation unsupported by testimony—Chart. Ludovic.
junior. ann. 1155, cap. xxxii. (Isambert, Anciennes Lois Françaises
I. 157.) And, in comparatively modern times, in Germany, the same
rule was followed. “Juramento rei, quod purgationis vocatur, sæpe
etiam innocentia, utpote quæ in anima constitit, probatur et indicia
diluuntur;” and this oath was administered when the evidence was
insufficient to justify torture. (Zangeri Tract. de Quæstionibus, cap.
iii. No. 46.) In 1592, Zanger wrote an elaborate essay to prove the
evils of the custom.
It is a noteworthy fact, however, that of all the medieval codes the
one least affected by the influence of the Roman law was the Saxon,
and in this the purgatorial power of the oath was admitted to a degree
unknown elsewhere. The accused was allowed in certain cases to clear
himself, however notorious were the facts, and no evidence was admitted
to disprove his position, unless it were a question of theft, and the
stolen articles were found in his possession, or he had suffered a
previous conviction. (Jur. Provin. Saxon. Lib. I. Art. 15, 18, 39; Lib.
II. Art. 4, 72.) Even this was an improvement on the previous custom,
if we may believe Cardinal Henry of Susa, who denounces the practice in
Saxony and Dacia, where a man can clear himself, even if he holds the
stolen article in his hand and the loser has ample witnesses present
(Hostiensis Aureæ Summæ Lib. V. De Purg. canon. § 3). This irrational
abuse was long in vogue, and was denounced by the council of Bâle in
the fifteenth century (Schilter. Thesaur. II. 291). It only prevailed
in the north of Germany; the Jus Provin. Alaman. (cap. ccclxxxi. §
3), which regulated Southern Germany, alludes to it as one of the
distinguishing features of the Saxon code.
So, also, at the same period a special privilege was claimed by the
inhabitants of Franconia, in virtue of which a murderer was allowed to
rebut with his single oath all testimony as to his guilt, unless he
chanced to be caught with the red hand—Jur. Provin. Alaman. cap. cvi. §
7.
[34] “Ego solus jurare volo, tu, si audes, nega sacramentum meum et
armis mecum contende.”—Ll. Ripuar. Tit. IX. § 3.
[35] Laws of Wihtræd, cap. 16-21. Comp. LI. Henrici I. Tit. lxiv. § 8.
[36] Anomalous Laws, Book IV. chap. i. § 11.
[37] Jur. Provin. Alaman. cclxiv. 7, 8.
[38] Fuero Viejo, III. ii.
[39] Book VII. 109-13 (after Delongchamps’ translation).
The corresponding passage in the Institutes of Vishnu (VIII. 20-3)
renders this somewhat more intelligible. When the judge swears the
witness—
“A Brahmana he must address thus, ‘Declare.’
“A Kshatriya he must address thus, ‘Declare the truth.’
“A Vaisya he must address thus, ‘Thy kine, grain, and gold (shall yield
thee no fruit if thou wert to give false evidence).’
“A Sudra he must address thus, ‘Thou shalt have to atone for all
(possible) heavy crimes (if thou wert to give false evidence).’”
[40] Institutes of Vishnu, IX. (Jolly’s Translation).
[41] Iliad. XV. 36-40.—Luciani Philopseud. 5; Cataplus 11.
[42] LI. 3, 4, D. XII. ii.
[43] Volundarkvida 31 (Thorpe’s Sæmund’s Edda). A curious remnant of
this is seen in the burgher law of Northern Germany in the thirteenth
century, by which a man reclaiming a stolen horse was bound to kick its
left foot with his right foot, while with his left hand he took hold
of the animal’s ear and swore by its head that it was his.—Sachsisches
Weichbild, art. 135.
[44] Deuteron. xxi. 4-8.
[45] Pausan. III. xx. 9.
[46] Islands Landnamabok IV. 7; II. 9 (Ed. 1774, pp. 299, 83).
[47] Keyser’s Religion of the Northmen, Pennock’s Translation, p. 238.
[48] Gen. xv. 9-17.—Jer. xxxiv. 18-19.—I. Kings, viii. 31-2.—Chrysost.
Orat. adv. Jud. I. 3.
[49] Anastas. Biblioth. No. LXII.
[50] Ecgberti Dialog. IV. (Haddan and Stubbs’s Councils of Great
Britain, III. 405).
[51] Gregor. Turon. Hist. Lib. V. cap. xlix. Gregory complains that
this was contrary to the canons, of which more hereafter.
[52] Dooms of Alfred, cap. 33.
[53] Dimetian Code, Bk. II. chap. vi. § 17 (Owen, I. 431).
[54] Fleta, Lib. II. cap. lxiii. § 12. The Moslem jurisprudence has
a somewhat similar provision for accusatorial oaths in the Iesameh
by which a murderer can be convicted, in the absence of testimony or
confession, by fifty oaths sworn by relatives of the victim. Of these
there must be at least two, and the fifty oaths are divided between
them in proportion to their respective legal shares in the Deeyeh,
or blood-money for the murder.—Du Boys, Droit Criminel des Peuples
Modernes, I. 269.—Seignette, Code Mussulman, Constantine, 1878, p. lvi.
[55] Fredegarii Chron. cap. xcvii.
[56] Excerpt. de Libro Davidis No. xvi. (Haddan and Stubbs, I. 120).
[57] Si in manu episcopi ... aut in cruce consecrata perjurat III.
annos pœniteat. Si vero in cruce non consecrata perjurat, I. annum
pœniteat; si autem in manu hominis laici juraverit nihil est.—Theodori
Cantuar. Pœnit. cap. xxiv. § 2. (Thorpe, Ancient Laws, vol. II. p. 29.)
Cf. Haddan and Stubbs, III. 423; Wasserschleben, Bussordnungen, pp.
190, 226.
[58] Pœnitent. Pseudo-Gregor. III. vii. (Wasserschleben, p. 539).
[59] Pœnitent. Cummeani cap. V. § 3 (Wasserschleben, p. 477).—Gratiani
Decr. c. 2. Caus. XXII. Q. v. In the fourteenth century this was
repeated in the penitential canons of Astesanus (§ 23), which continued
until the Reformation to be a recognized authority in the confessional.
Astesanus, however, explains that the obligation is equal to God,
but unequal as regards the church, whence the difference in the
penance.—Astesani Summa de Casibus Conscientiæ, P. I. Lib. I. Tit.
xviii.
[60] Anomalous Laws, Book IX. chap. v. § 3; chap. xxxviii. § 1 (Owen,
II. 233, 303). The definition of relics, however, was somewhat
vague—“There are three relics to swear by: the staff of a priest; the
name of God; and hand to hand with the one sworn to.” Bk. XIII. ch. ii.
§ 219 (Ibid. II. 557).
[61] Regino de Eccles. Discip. Lib. I. cap. ccc. See also Jur.
Provin. Saxon, Lib. III. c. 41. Notwithstanding the laxity of these
doctrines, it is not to be supposed that the true theory of the oath
was altogether lost. St. Isidor of Seville, who was but little anterior
to Theodore of Canterbury, well expresses it (Sententt. Lib. II.
cap. xxxi. § 8): “Quacunque arte verborum quisque juret, Deus tamen,
qui conscientiæ testis est, ita hoc accipit, sicut ille cui juratur
intelligit,” and this, being adopted in successive collections of
canons, coexisted with the above as a maxim of ecclesiastical law
(Ivon. Decret. P. XII. c. 36.—Gratian. c. 13, Caus. XXII. Q. ii.).
[62] Helgaldi Vit. Roberti Regis.
[63] Augustin. Epist. 78, §§ 2, 3 (Ed. Benedict.).
[64] Gregor. Turon. de Gloria Martyr. cap. 58, 103.
[65] Suppression of Monasteries, p. 186 (Camden Soc. Pub.). The Priory
of Cardigan was dependent upon the Abbey of Chertsey, and the sum named
was apparently the abbot’s share of the annual “alms.”
Perhaps the most suggestive illustration of the reverence for relics
is a passage in the ancient Welsh laws limiting the protection legally
afforded by them—“If a person have relics upon him and does an illegal
act under the relics, he is not to have protection or defence through
those relics, for he has not deserved it.”—Venedotian Code, Bk. I.
chap. x. § 7.
[66] Espéculo, Lib. V. Tit. xi. leyes 14, 15. The oaths required of
Jews and Moors were much more elaborate (Ibid. 16, 17).
[67] Patetta, Le Ordalie, Torino, 1890, p. 130.
[68] Yet compurgators appear in the Spanish laws of the twelfth
century. See Fuero de Balbás, ann. 1135 (Coleccion de Privilegios, etc.
Madrid, 1833, T. VI. p. 85).
[69] The primitive Scottish procedure appears to have been based on
compurgation.—Neilson’s Trial by Combat, London, 1890, p. 78.
[70] First Text of Pardessus, Tit. xxxix. § 2, and Tit. xlii. § 5 (Loi
Salique, Paris, 1843, pp. 21, 23). It is somewhat singular that in the
subsequent recensions of the code the provision is omitted in these
passages.
[71] Eginhard. Annal. ann. 800.—The monkish chroniclers have endeavored
to conceal the fact that Leo underwent the form of trial like a common
criminal, but the evidence is indubitable. Charlemagne alludes to it in
the _Capitularium Aquisgranense_ ann. 803, in a manner which admits of
no dispute.
The monk of St. Gall (De Gestis B. Carol. Mag. Lib. i. cap. 28), whose
work is rather legendary in its character, describes the Pope as
swearing to his innocence by his share at the day of judgment in the
promises of the gospels, which he had placed upon his head.
[72] Capit. Aquisgran. ann. 803, cap. vii.
[73] Bonifacii Epist. cxxvi.
The subject of the oaths of priests was one of considerable perplexity
during the dark ages. Among the numerous privileges assumed by the
sacerdotal body was exemption from the necessity of swearing, an
exemption which had the justification of the ancient Roman custom;
“Sacerdotem, Vestalem, et Flaminem Dialem in omni mea jurisdictione
jurare non cogam” (Edict. Perpet. ap. Aul. Gell. x. 15). The effort
to obtain the reversion of this privilege dates from an early period,
and was sometimes allowed and sometimes rejected by the secular
authorities, both as respects promissory, judicial, and exculpatory
oaths. The struggle between church and state on this subject is well
exemplified in a case which occurred in 1269. The Archbishop of Reims
sued a burgher of Chaudardre. When each party had to take the oath,
the prelate demanded that his should be taken by his attorney. The
defendant demurred to this, alleging that the archbishop had in person
presented the complaint. Appeal was made to the Parlement of Paris,
which decided that the defendant’s logic was correct, and that the
personal oath of the prelate was requisite (Olim, I. 765).
In Spain, a bishop appearing in a secular court, either as plaintiff or
defendant, was not exempt from the oath, but had the singular privilege
of not being compelled to touch the gospels on which he swore.—Siete
Partidas, P. III. Tit. xl. l. 24.
[74] Gratian. c. 19, Caus. II. Q. V.
[75] Eginhard. Annal. ann. 823.
[76] Atton. de Pressuris Ecclesiast. P. 1.
[77] Buchardus, Ivo, Gratianus, _passim_.—Ivon. Epist. 74.
[78] L. Longobard. Lib. II. Tit. xxi. § 9; Tit. lv. § 12.—L. Burgund.
Tit. vii.—Laws of Ethelred, Tit. ix. §§ 23, 24.—L. Henrici I. cap.
lxxiv. § 1. Feudor. Lib. V. Tit. ii.
This point illustrates the essential distinction between witnesses
and compurgators. The Roman law exercised great discrimination in
admitting the evidence of a relative to either party in an action
(Pauli Sentent. Lib. V. Tit. xv.—Ll. 4, 5, 6, 9. Dig. XXII. v.). The
Wisigoths not only adopted this principle, but carried it so far as to
exclude the evidence of a kinsman in a cause between his relative and
a stranger (L. Wisigoth. Lib. II. Tit. iv. c. 12), which was adopted
into the Carlovingian legislation (Benedict. Levit. Capitul. Lib. VI.
c. 348) under the strong Romanizing influence which then prevailed. The
rule, once established, retained its place through the vicissitudes
of the feudal and customary law (Beaumanoir, Coutumes du Beauvoisis,
cap. xxxix. § 38.—Cout. de Bretagne, Tit. vii. art. 161, 162). In the
ancient Brahmanic legislation the evidence of both friends and enemies
was excluded (Institutes of Vishnu, viii. 3).
[79] Anomalous Laws, Bk. IX. chap. ii. § 4; chap. v. § 2 (Owen, II.
225, 233). This collection of laws is posterior to the year 1430.
[80] Anomalous Laws, Bk. V. chap. ii. § 117 (Ibid. II. p. 85).
[81] Ibid. § 144 (p. 95).
[82] Aimoini Lib. III. c. 29.
[83] Greg. Turon. Lib. VIII. c. 9.
[84] Herman. Contract. ann. 899.
[85] Spelman. Concil. I. 335.
[86] Venedotian Code, Book III. chap. i. §§ 1-10.—Dimetian and Gwentian
Codes, Book II. chap. i. §§ 10-12 (Owen I. 219-21, 407, 689).—There is
very great confusion in these laws as to the numbers requisite for many
crimes, but with respect to the accessories of _galanas_, or homicide,
the rule appears to have been absolute.—Cf. Spelman, Glossary s. v.
_Assath_.
[87] Venedotian Code, Book III. chap. i. § 18. Anomalous Laws, Book IV.
chap. iii. §§ 12, 13 (Ibid. I. 231, II. 23).
[88] Ibid. § 17 (p. 231); cf. Book II. chap. viii. § 4 (p. 137).
[89] Gwentian Code, Book II. chap. iii. § 11 (Ibid. I. 691).
[90] Leg. Cimbric. Lib. II. c. 9.—Constit. Woldemari Regis §§ 9, 52,
56, 86. Throughout Germany a minor son could be cleared, even in
capital accusations, by the single purgatorial oath of his father, if
it was the first time that they had been defendants in court.—Jur.
Provin. Alaman. cap. clxix. § 1; Sachsische Weichbild, art. 76.
[91] Böhlau, Nove constitutiones Dom. Alberti, pp. 2, 6, 12, 38
(Weimar, 1858). “Cum duobus viris bone opinionis et integri status,
sinodalibus hominibus.” The expression is doubtless derived from the
_testes synodales_—men of standing and reputation selected in episcopal
synods to act as a kind of grand jury and report the sins of their
neighbors.
[92] This has been denied by those who assume that the _frithborgs_ of
Edward the Confessor are the earliest instance of such institutions,
but traces of communal societies are to be found in the most ancient
text of the Salic law (First text of Pardessus, Tit. XLV.), and both
Childebert and Clotair II., in edicts promulgated near the close of the
sixth century, hold the hundreds or townships responsible for robberies
committed within their limits (Decret. Childeberti ann. 595, c. 10;
Decret. Chlotarii II. c. 1).
It is not improbable that, as among all the barbarian races, the family
was liable for the misdeeds of its members, so the tribe or clan of
the offender was held responsible when the offence was committed upon
a member of another tribe, and such edicts as those of Childebert and
Clotair were merely adaptations of the rule to the existing condition
of society. The most perfect early code that has reached us, that of
the ancient Irish, expresses in detail the responsibility of each sept
for the actions not only of its members, but of those also who were
in any way connected with it. “And because the four nearest tribes
bear the crime of each kinsman of their stock.... And because there
are four who have an interest in every one who sues and is sued: the
tribe of the father, the chief, the church, the tribe of the mother
or foster-father.... Every tribe is liable after the absconding
of a member of it, after notice, after warning, and after lawful
waiting.”—Senchus Mor, I. 263-5.
[93] See Mr. Pike’s very interesting “History of Crime in England,”
Vol. I. pp. 61-2. London, 1873.
[94] First text of Pardessus, Tit. XLII. § 5.
[95] Marculf. App. xxxii.; xxix.
[96] Pact. pro Tenore Pacis cap. vi.
[97] L. Alaman. Tit. lxxvi.
[98] Capit. Car. Mag. IV. ann. 803, cap. x.
[99] Goldast. Constit. Imp. I. 231.
[100] Hartzheim Concil. German. II. 600.
[101] Lagrèze, Hist. du Droit dans les Pyrénées, p. 47, Paris, 1867.
[102] Pike, op. cit. I. 451.
[103]
Pontificem parium manus expurgat duodena.
Sexta sacerdotem, levitam tertia purgat.
Maior maiori, minor est adhibenda minori.
Quem plebs infamat purgabitur in manifesto.
Hostiensis Aureæ Summæ Lib. V. Tit. _De Purgat. canon._ § 4.
[104] Ibid. § 5.
[105] Quoniam Attachiamenta cap. xxiv. §§ 1, 4; cap. lxxv. §§ 1, 4. In
another subsequent code, in simple cases of theft, when the accuser
had no testimony to substantiate his claim, thirty conjurators were
necessary, of whom three must be nobles (Regiam Majestatem Lib. IV.
c. 21). For the disputed date of the _Regiam_ see Neilson, Trial by
Combat, ch. 30.
[106] Leg. Burgorum cap. xxiv. §§ 1, 3.
[107] Anomalous Laws, Book XIII. chap. ii. § 94 (Owen II. 521).
[108] Gwentian Code, Bk. II. chap. vii. § 10 (Ibid. I. 701).
[109] Anomalous Laws, Bk. IX. chap. ii. § 4; chap. xx. § 12; chap. xxi.
§ 3.—Book XIV. chap. xxxviii. § 16.—Book V. chap. ii. § 112 (Ibid. II.
225, 261, 709, 83).
Under the primitive Venedotian Code (Book III. chap. i. §§ 13, 19)
only twelve men were required, one-half to be _nod-men_, two-thirds of
paternal, and one-third of maternal kin; while in the Gwentian Code
(Book II. chap. ii. § 10) and in the Dimetian Code (Book II. chap. iii.
§ 10, Book III. chap. i. § 24), fifty are prescribed.
The _nod men_, as will be seen hereafter, were conjurators who took a
special form of oath.
[110] Anomalous Laws, Book XIV. chap. xxxviii. § 16; Book IX. chap. xx.
§ 12; chap. xxi. § 1.
[111] Leges Wallice, Lib. II. cap. xxiii. § 17 (Owen II. 848). It is
worthy of remark that one of the few instructions for legal procedures
contained in the Korán relates to cases of this kind. Chapter xxiv.
6-9 directs that a husband accusing his wife of infidelity, and having
no witnesses to prove it, shall substantiate his assertion by swearing
five times to the truth of the charge, invoking upon himself the
malediction of God; while the wife was able to rebut the accusation by
the same process. As this chapter, however, was revealed to the Prophet
after he had writhed for a month under a charge brought against his
favorite wife Ayesha, which he could not disregard and did not wish to
entertain, the law is rather to be looked upon as _ex post facto_ than
as indicating any peculiar tendency of the age or race.
[112] Anomalous Laws, Book XI. chap. v. §§ 40, 41 (Ibid. II. 445).
[113] Wealreaf, _i. e._, mortuum refere, est opus nithingi; si quis
hoc negare velit, faciat hoc cum xlviii. taynis plene nobilibus.—Leg.
Æthelstani, de Ordalio.
[114] Sacramentum liberalis hominis, quem quidem vocant
_twelfhendeman_, debet stare et valere juramentum septem villanorum
(Cnuti Secular. cap. 127). The _twelfhendeman_ meant a thane
(Twelfhindus est homo plene nobilis i. Thainus.—Leg. Henrici I. Tit.
lxxvi. § 4), whose price was 1200 solidi. So thoroughly did the
structure of jurisprudence depend upon the system of _wer-gild_ or
composition, that the various classes of society were named according
to the value of their heads. Thus the villein or _cherleman_ was also
called _twyhindus_ or _twyhindeman_, his _wer-gild_ being 200 solidi;
the _radcnicht_ (road-knight, or mounted follower) was a _sexhendeman_;
and the comparative judicial weight of their oaths followed a similar
scale of valuation, which was in force even subsequently to the
Conquest (Leg. Henrici I. Tit. lxiv. § 2).
[115] L. Frision. Tit. I.
[116] Hincmari Epist. xxxiv. So also in his Capit. Synod. ann. 852, II.
xxv.
[117] L. Longobard. Lib. II. Tit. lv. § 5.
[118] Ibid. Tit. xxi. § 9.
[119] Proost, Récherches sur la Législation des Jugements de Dieu,
Bruxelles, 1868, p. 96.
[120] Nominentur ei XIV., et adquirat XI., et ipse sit duodecimus.—L.
Cnuti c. lxvi. Horne, who probably lived in the reign of Edward II.,
attributes to Glanville the introduction of the jury-trial.—“Car, pur
les grandes malices que lon soloit procurer en testmonage et les grands
delaies qui se fierent en les examinements, exceptions et attestations,
ordeina Randulph de Glanvile celle certeine Assise ou recognitions et
jurées se feissent per XII jurors, les procheins vicines, et issint est
cest establissement appelé assise.”—Myrror of Justice, cap. II. sect.
xxv. For a minute examination into the origin of the jury-trial, see a
series of articles by Prof. J. B. Thayer in the Harvard Law-Review for
1892.
[121] Laws of Ethelred, Tit. III. c. xiii.
[122] L. Henrici I. Tit. xxxi. § 8; Tit. lxvi. § 10.
[123] Constit. Woldemari Regis §§ lii. lxxii.
[124] Fuero de Balbás (Coleccion de Privilegios, etc. Madrid, 1833, T.
VI. p. 85).
[125] Prof. J. B. Thayer, in Harvard Law Review, Vol. V. p. 58.
[126] L. Scaniæ Lib. vii. c. 8.—Chart. Woldemari Regis, ann. 1163 (Du
Cange s. v. _Juramentum_).
[127] Jarnsida, Thiofa-Balkr, cap. ix. X.
[128] Leges Gulathingenses, Thiofa-Bolkr, c. xiii. (Ed. Havniæ 1817, p.
547).
[129] L. Longobard. I. xxxiii. 1, 3.
[130] L. Burgund. Tit. viii.
[131] Capit. Car. Mag. I. ann. 789 c. lxii.
[132] Ibid.
[133] Capit. Ludov. Pii ann. 829 Tit. III. § vi.
[134] For. de Morlaas, Rubr. xli. art. 146-7.
[135] Que sien boos et loyaus, et que no sien enemicxs.—Fors de Béarn,
Rubr. xxx.
[136] Formulary of the Papal Penitentiary, Philadelphia, 1892, p. 100.
[137] Königswarter, Études Historiques. p. 167.
[138] Nam nulli liceat, postquam manifestaverit, postea per sacramentum
negare, quod non sit culpabilis, postquam ille se culpabilem
assignavit. Quia multos cognovimus in regno nostro tales pravas
opponentes intentiones, et hæc moverunt nos præsentem corrigere legem,
et ad meliorem statum revocare.—L. Longobard. Lib. II. Tit. lv. § 8.
[139] Si quis hominem ingenuo plagiaverit et probatio certa non fuit,
sicut pro occiso juratore donet. Si juratores non potuerit invenire,
VIII M dinarios, qui faciunt solidos CC, culpabilis judicetur (Tit.
xxxix. § 2). A similar provision—“si tamen probatio certa non
fuerit”—occurs in Tit. xlii. § 5.
[140] Si quis hominem occiderit et negare voluerit, cum duodecim
nominatis juret.—L. Alaman. Tit. LXXXIX.
[141] L. Alaman. Tit. XLII.
[142] Islands Landnamabok II. ix. (p. 83).
[143] For instance, in the Baioarian law—“Nec facile ad sacramenta
veniatur.... In his vero causis sacramenta præstentur in quibus nullam
probationem discussio judicantis invenerit” (L. Baioar. Tit. VIII. c.
16). In a Capitulary of Louis le Débonnaire—“Si hujus facti testes
non habuerit cum duodecim conjuratoribus legitimis per sacramentum
adfirmet” (Capit. Ludov. Pii ann. 819, § 1). In one of the Emperor
Lothair—“Si testes habere non poterit, concedimus ut cum XII.
juratoribus juret” (L. Longobard. Lib. I. Tit. IX. § 37). So Louis II.,
in 854, ordered that a man accused of harboring robbers, if taken in
the act, was to be immediately punished; but if merely cited on popular
rumor, he was at liberty to clear himself with twelve compurgators
(Recess. Ticinen. Tit. II. cap. 3).
It was the same in subsequent periods. The Scottish law of the
thirteenth century alludes to the absence of testimony as a necessary
preliminary, but when an acquittal was once obtained in this manner the
accused seems to have been free from all subsequent proceedings, when
inconvenient witnesses might perhaps turn up—“Et si hoc modo purgatus
fuerit, absolvetur a petitione Regis in posterum” (Regiam Majestatem,
Lib. IV. c. 21). So, in the laws of Nieuport, granted by Philip of
Alsace, Count of Flanders, in 1163 “Et si hoc scabini vel opidani non
cognoverint, conquerens cum juramento querelam suam sequetur, et alter
se excusabit juramento quinque hominum” (Leg. secundæ Noviportus). See
also the Consuetud. Tornacens. ann. 1187, §§ ii. iii. xvi., where two
conjurators release a defendant from a claim of debt unsupported by
evidence. In case of assault, “si constans non fuerit,” two conjurators
clear the accused; in case of wounding, six are required if the affair
occurred by daylight; if at night, the cold water ordeal is prescribed
(D’Achery, Spicileg. III. 551-2). The legislation of Norway and Iceland
in the next century is even more positive “Iis tantum concessis quæ
legum codices sanciunt, juramenta nempe purgatoria et accusatoria, ubi
legitimi defuerint testes” (Jarnsida, Mannhelge, cap. xxxvii.).
On the other hand, an exception to this general principle is apparently
found in a constitution of the Emperor Henry III., issued about the
middle of the eleventh century “Si quem ex his dominus suus accusaverit
de quacunque re, licet illi juramento se cum suis coæqualibus
absolvere, exceptis tribus: hoc est si in vitam domini sui, aut in
cameram ejus consilium habuisse arguitur, aut in munitiones ejus.
Cæteris vero hominibus de quacunque objectione, absque advocato, cum
suis coæqualibus juramento se poterit absolvere” (Goldast. Constit.
Imp. I. 231).
In a constitution of Frederic II. in 1235, the oaths of six
compurgators clear a man accused of having commenced hostilities
without awaiting the three days term prescribed after defiance, no
evidence being alluded to on either side—“et nisi violator productus
super hoc vel septena manu sinodalium hominum purgaverit innocentiam
suam quod non commiserat contra hoc statutum perpetuo pene subiaceat
quod dicitur erenlos und rehtlos”—Nove Constitutiones Dom. Alberti, p.
12 (Weimar, 1858).
[144] S. Raymondi Summæ Lib. III. Tit. xxxi. § v. _ad calcem._
[145] Gwentian Code, Book II. chap. xxxix. § 40 (Owen I. 787). So, in
disowning a child, if the reputed father were dead, the oaths of the
chief of the kindred, with seven of the kinsmen, were decisive, or, in
default of the chief, the oaths of fifty kinsmen (Ibid. § 41).
[146] Anomalous Laws, Book IX. chap. ii. § 9 (Ibid. II. 227).
[147] Ibid. Book VIII. chap. xi. § 31 (Ibid. II. 209).
[148] Ibid. Book IX. chap. ii. § 6 (Ibid. II. 227).
[149] Dooms of Ine, cap. liii.
[150] Leg. Wallice, Lib. II. cap. xix. § 2 (Owen II. 842).
[151] Ea autem debita de quibus non constat, super mortuum probari
debent, septima manu.—Jur. Provin. Alaman. cap. vii. § 2. (Ed.
Schilter.)—Sachsische Weichbild art. 67.
[152] Nove Constitutiones Dom. Alberti, p. 38.
[153] “Quod in sacramentis supradictorum testium veritas absque ullo
dolo versata est.”—Leon. PP. IV. Epist. 5 (Migne, CXV. 664).
[154] Lünig Cod. Ital. Diplom. II. 1955.
[155] Maitland, Select Pleas in Manorial and other Seignorial Courts,
pp. 7, 10, 18, 32, 36, 37, 47, 83, 137, 140, 141, 142, 144, 151, 157,
173.
[156] Si burgensis calumniatus præteriit ætatem pugnandi, et hoc
essoniaverit in sua responsione, non pugnabit. Sed juramento duodecim
talium qualis ipse fuerit, se purgabit.—L. Burgorum cap. 24, §§ 1, 2.
[157] Concil. Remens. ann. 1119 (Harduin. VI. 1986).
[158] On þone Drihten se að is clæne and unmæne þe N. swor.—Thorpe’s
Ancient Laws, I. 180-1.
[159] Hoc quod appellatus juravit, verum juravit. Sic Deus,
etc.—Formul. Vet. in L. Longobard (Georgisch, 1275).
[160] Per aquetz santz ver dits.—Fors de Béarn, Rubr. LI. art. 165.
[161] Du serment que Guillaume a juré, sauf serment a juré, ainsi
m’aist Dieu et ses Sainctz.—Ancienne Cout. de Normandie, chap. lxxxv.
(Bourdot de Richebourg, IV. 54).
[162] Nobis adhæc Deo coram periculosum esse videtur, ejus, cujus
interest, jusjurandum purgatorium edendo præeunte, omnes (ab eo
productos testes) iisdem ac ille conceptis verbis jurare, incerti
quamvis fuerint, vera ne an falsa jurent. Nos legibus illatum volumus
ut ille, cujus interest, jusjurandum conceptis verbis solum præstet,
cæteri vero ejus firment juramentum adjicientes se nequid verius, Deo
coram, scire, quam jurassent.—Jarnsida, Mannhelge, cap. xxxvii.—The
passage is curious, as showing how little confidence was really felt in
the purgation, notwithstanding the weight attached to it by law.
[163] Leges Gulathingenses, Thiofa-Bolkr, c. xiii.
[164] Credo Norigaudum istum Eduensem episcopum vera jurasse, sicut me
Deus adjuvet.—Hugo. Flaviniac. Lib. II.
[165] Anomalous Laws, Book VII. chap. i. § 18 (Owen, II. 135).
[166] L. Alaman. Tit. vi.
[167] L. Longobard. Lib. II. Tit. lv. § 28.
[168] Anomalous Laws, Book IX. chap. vi. § 4; chap. xvii. § 5.—cf. Book
VI. chap. i. § 50 (Owen. II. 235, 255, 113).
[169] Marculf. Lib. I. Formul. xxxviii.
[170] L. Frisionum Tit. xiv.
[171] Dooms of King Edward, cap. iii.
[172] Keyser’s Religion of the Northmen, Pennock’s Transl. p. 246.
[173] Quantum in conspectu hominum purgari poterat.—Ivon. Epist. liv.
[174] Hugo Flaviniac. Lib. II.
[175] Gratian. c. 17, Caus. II. Q. v.
[176] L. Baioar. Tit. XIV. cap. i. § 2.
[177] L. Longobard. Lib. I. Tit. ix. § 37.
[178] Institutions Judiciaires, I. 308.
[179] Ut propter suam nequitiam alii qui volunt. Dei esse non se
perjurent, nec propter culpam alienam semetipsos perdant.—L. Alaman.
Tit. xlii. § 1.
[180] Quod pro anima sua timendo, non præsumat sacramentalis esse.—L.
Longobard. Lib. II. Tit. lv. § 14.
[181] Othlon. Vit. S. Bonif. Lib. II. c. xxi.—“Vos soli juratis, si
vultis; nolo ut omnes hos congregatos perdatis.”—Boniface, however,
did not weakly abandon the cause of the church. He freely invoked
curses on the greedy brethren, which being fulfilled on the elder, the
terror-stricken survivor gladly relinquished the dangerous inheritance.
[182] L. Salic. Tit. I. §§ 3, 4.
[183] L. Frisionum Tit. X.
[184] Capit. Pippini ann. 793 § 15.—Capit. Car. Mag. incert. anni c. x.
(Martene Ampl. Collect. VII. 7).
[185] Celest. PP. III. ad Brugnam Episc. (Baluz. et Mansi, III. 382).
[186] Cod. Vatican. No. 3845, Gloss, ad L. 2 Lombard. II. 51, apud
Savigny, Geschichte d. Rom. Recht. B. iv.—I owe this reference to the
kindness of my friend J. G. Rosengarten, Esq.
[187] Capit. Car. Mag. ann. 794 § 7.
[188] Hugo, Flaviniac. Lib. II. ann. 1100. Norgaud, however, was
reinstated next year by quietly procuring, as we have already seen,
two brother prelates to take the oath with him, in the absence of his
antagonists.
[189] Et si quis de quinque juvantibus defecerit, accusatus debit tres
libras, et percusso decem solidos.—Leg. Secund. Noviportus (Oudegherst).
[190] Hostiensis Aureæ Summæ Lib. v. _De Purg. Canon_, § 7.—“Sicut
puniretur de crimine de quo impetebatur si convinceretur considerato
modo agendi, sic punietur si in purgatione deficiat.”
[191] L. Longobard. Lib. II. Tit. lv. § 34.—Qua ex re mos detestabilis
in Italia, improbusque non imitandus inolevit, ut sub legum specie
jurejurando acquireret, qui Deum non timendo minime formidaret
perjurare.
[192] L. Henrici I. cap. lxiv. § 1. “Malorum autem infestacionibus et
perjurancium conspiracione, depositum est frangens juramentum, ut magis
Dei judicium ab accusatis eligatur; et unde accusatus cum una decima
se purgaret per eleccionem et sortem, si ad judicium ferri calidi
vadat.” This cannot be considered, however, as having abrogated it even
temporarily in England, since it is contradicted by many other laws in
the same code, which prescribe the use of compurgators, and we shall
see hereafter how persistently its use was maintained.
[193] Romances Antiguos Españoles. Londres, 1825, T. I. pp. 246-7. Cf.
Dozy, Recherches sur l’Histoire, etc. de l’Espagne, Leipzig, 1881, II.
108.
[194] Le Roux de Lincy, Chants Historiques Français, I. 15.
[195] Glanville, Lib. I. cap. ix. Also, Lib. I. c. xvi., Lib. IX.
c. i., Lib. X. c. v.
[196] “In aliis enim curiis si quis aliquid dixerit unde eum
pœnituerit, poterit id negare contra totam curiam tertia manu cum
sacramento, id se non dixisse affirmando” (Ibid. Lib. VIII. c. ix.).—In
some other systems of jurisprudence, this unsophisticated mode of
beclouding justice was obtained by insisting on the employment of
lawyers, whose assertions would not be binding on their clients. Thus,
in the Assises de Jerusalem (Baisse Court, cap. 133): “Et por ce il
deit estre lavantparlier, car se lavantparlier dit parole quil ne doie
dire por celuy cui il parole, celui por qui il parle et son conceau y
pueent bien amender ains que le iugement soit dit. Mais se celuy de cui
est li plais diseit parole qui li deust torner a damage, il ne la peut
torner arieres puis quil la dite.” The same caution is recommended in
the German procedure of the fourteenth century—“verbis procuratoris non
eris adstrictus, et sic vitabis damnum” (Richstich Landrecht, cap. II.
Cf. Jur. Provin. Saxon. Lib. I. art. 60; Lib. II. art. 14). The same
abuse existed in France, but was restricted by St. Louis, who made the
assertion of the advocate binding on the principal, unless contradicted
on the spot (Établissements, Liv. II. chap. xiv.).
[197] Roger de Hoveden ann. 1194.
[198] Tunc vadiabit defendens legem se duodecima manu.—Bracton. Lib.
III. Tract. iii. cap. 37, § 1.—Et si ad diem legis faciendæ; defuerit
aliquis de XII. vel si contra prædictos excipi possit quod non sunt
idonei ad legem faciendam, eo quod villani sunt vel alias idonei minus,
tunc dominus incidet in misericordiam.—Ibid. § 3. So also in Lib. V.
Tract. V. cap. xiii. § 3.
[199] Pike, History of Crime in England, I. 285.
[200] Gratian, c. 17, C. 11. Q. v.—“Deinde vero purgatores super sancta
Dei evangelia jurabunt quod sicut ipsi credunt verum juravit.” Cf. c. 5
Extra, V. xxxiv.
[201] Summæ Stephani Tornacensis caus. II. Q. 5 (Schulte, 1891, p. 171).
[202] C. 7, Extra, V. xxxiv.
[203] Illi qui ad purgandam alicujus infamiam inducuntur, ad solum
tenentur juramento firmare quod veritatem credunt eum dicere qui
purgatur.—C. 13, Extra, V. xxxiv. Innocent also endeavored to put an
end to the abuse by which ecclesiastics, notoriously guilty, were
able to escape the penalty due their crimes, by this easy mode of
purgation.—C. 15, eod. loc.
The formula as given about 1240 by St. Ramon de Peñafort is
“Nos credimus quod ipse juravit verum, vel, verum esse quod
juravit.”—Raymondi Summæ Lib. III. Tit. xxxi. § 5.
[204] The rapidity with which the study of the civil law diffused
itself throughout the schools and the eagerness with which it was
welcomed were the subject of indignant comment by the ecclesiastics
of the day. As early as 1149 we find St. Bernard regretting that the
laws of Justinian were already overshadowing those of God—“Et quidem
quotidie perstrepent in palatio leges, sed Justiniani, non Domini” (De
Consideratione, Lib. I. cap. iv.). Even more bitter were the complaints
of Giraldus Cambrensis towards the end of the century. The highest of
high churchmen, in deploring the decline of learning among the prelates
and clergy of his age, he attributes it to the exclusive attention
bestowed on the jurisprudence of Justinian, which already offered
the surest prizes to cupidity and ambition, and he quotes in support
of his opinion the dictum of his teacher Mainier, a professor in the
University of Paris: “Episcopus autem ille, de quo nunc ultimo locuti
sumus, inter superficiales numerari potuit, cujusmodi hodie multos
novimus propter leges Justinianas, quæ literaturam, urgente cupiditatis
et ambitionis incommodo, adeo in multis jam suffocarunt, quod magistrum
Mainerium in auditorio scholæ suæ Parisius dicentem et damna sui
temporis plangentem, audivi, vaticinium illud Sibillæ vere nostris
diebus esse completum, hoc scilicet ‘Venient dies, et væ illis, quibus
leges obliterabunt scientiam literarum’” (Gemm. Ecclesiast. Dist. II.
cap. xxxvii.). This, like all other branches of learning, was as yet to
a great extent in the hands of the clergy, though already were arising
the precursors of those subtle and daring civil lawyers who were
destined to do such yeoman’s service in abating the pretensions of the
church.
It is somewhat singular to observe that at a period when the highest
offices of the law were frequently appropriated by ecclesiastics, they
were not allowed to perform the functions of advocates or counsel. See
Horne’s Myrror of Justice, cap. II. sect. 5. There was good reason
for prohibiting them from serving as judges, as Frederic II. did in
1235—“Idem erit laicus propter sententias sanguinum quas clerico
scribere non liceat, et præterea ut si dilinquid in officio suo pena
debita puniatur” (Nove Constitutiones Dom. Alberti, p. 46).
[205] Actor quod adseverat, probare se non posse profitendo, reum
necessitate monstrandi contrarium non adstringit: cum per rerum naturam
factum negantis probatio nulla sit (Const. xxiii. C. de Probat. IV.
19).—Cum inter eum, qui factum adseverans, onis subiit probationis, et
negantem numerationem, cujus naturali ratione probatio nulla est ...
magna sit differentia (Const. x. C. de non numerat. IV. 30). It is a
little curious to see how completely this was opposed to the principle
of the early Common Law of England, by which in actions for debt
“semper incumbit probatio neganti” (Fleta, Lib. II. cap. lxiii. § 11).
[206] La cosa que non es non se puede probar nin mostrar segunt
natura.—Las Siete Partidas, P. III. Tit. xiv. l. 1.
[207] Though absent from the general laws of Spain, yet compurgation
had been introduced as an occasional custom. We have seen it above
(p. 49) in the Fuero de Balbás in 1135. The Fuero of Madrid in 1202
provides that a man suspected of homicide and other crimes, in the
absence of testimony, can clear himself with six or twelve conjurators,
according to the grade of the offence (Mem. de la Real. Acad. de la
Historia, 1852). We shall see hereafter that it appears in the Fuero
Viejo of Castile in 1356. The passage from the Romancero del Cid,
quoted above, shows the hold it had on the popular imagination.
[208] Olim, II. 153, 237.
[209] Actes du Parlement de Paris, T. I. p. cccvii. (Paris, 1863).
[210] Actes du Parlement de Paris, T. I. p. 382.
[211] Statuunt ... se manu centesima nobilium se purgare, et ad
huic benedicto juveni bis septem librarum milia pro sui rancoris
satisfactione præsentare.—Wilelmi Egmond. Chron.
[212] Is qui reus putatur tertia manu se purgabit, inter quos sint duo
qui dicentur denominati.—Du Cange s. v. _Juramentum_.
[213] Et li deffendans, sour qui on a clamet se doit deffendre par
lui tierche main, se chou est hom II. hommes et lui, se chou est fame
II. femmes et li à tierche.... “Tel sierment que Jehans chi jura boin
sierment y jura au mien ensiant. Si m’ait Dius et chist Saint.”—Roisin,
Franchises, etc. de la Ville de Lille, pp. 30, 35.
[214] Ibid. p. 51. The system was abrogated by a municipal ordinance of
September, 1351, in accordance with a special ordonnance to that effect
issued by King John of France in March, 1350.
The royal ordonnance declares that the oath was “en langage estraigne
et de mos divers et non de legier a retenir ou prononchier,” and yet
that if either party “par quelconques maniere faloit en fourme ou en
langage ou que par fragilite de langhe, huirans eu, se parolle faulsist
ou oubvliast, ou eslevast se main plus que li dite maniere acoustumee
en requeroit ou quelle ne tenist fermement sen poch en se paulme ou ne
wardast et maintenist pluiseurs autres frivoles et vaines chozes et
manieres appartenans au dit sierment, selonc le loy de la dite ville,
tant em parole comme en fait, il avoit du tout sa cause perdue, ne
depuis nestoit rechus sur che li demanderes a claim ou complainte, ne
li deffenderes a deffensce.”—Ibid. p. 390.
[215] Anc. Coutume de Normandie, chap. lxxxv. (Bourdot de Richebourg,
IV. 53-4).
[216] Recherches de la France, Liv. IV. chap. iii. Concerning the date
of this, see La Croix du Maine, s. v. _Estienne Pasquier_.
[217] Fors et Cost. de Béarn, Rubr. de Juramentz (Bourdot de
Richebourg, IV. 1082).
[218] Lo jurament deu seguidor se fé JURAN PER aquetz sanctz bertat
ditz exi que io crey.
[219] E si gelo negare e non gelo quisier probar, devel’ facer salvo
con once Fijosdalgo e èl doceno, que non lo fiço (Fuero Viejo de
Castiella, Lib. I. Tit. v. 1. 12). It will be observed that this is an
unqualified recognition of the system of negative proofs.
[220] Du Cange, s. v. _Juramentum_.
[221] Jur. Provin. Alaman. cap. xxiv.; cccix. § 4; cccxxix. §§ 2, 3;
cccxxxix. § 3 (Edit. Schilteri).
[222] Jur. Provin. Saxon. Lib. I. c. 63.
[223] Sachsische Weichbild, art. 71, 72, 86, 40, 88.
[224] Goldast. Constitt. Imp. III. 446.
[225] Meyer, Institutions Judiciaires, V. 221.
[226] Sique accusatus tanta ac tam gravi suspitione laboraret ut
aliorum quoque purgatione necesse esset, in arbitratu stet judicis, si
illi eam velit injungere, nec ne, qui nimirum compurgatores jurabunt,
se credere quod ille illive qui se per juramentum excusarunt, recte
vereque juraverint.—Constit. de Pace Publica cap. xv. § 1 (Goldast.
Constitt. Imp. I. 541).
[227] Damhouder, Rerum Criminalium Praxis cap. xliv. No. 6 (Antwerp,
1601).
[228] Statut. Davidis II. cap. i. § 6.
[229] Jarnsida, Mannhelge & Thiofa-Balkr _passim_; Erfthatal cap.
xxiv.; Landabrigtha-Balkr cap. xxviii.; Kaupa-Balkr cap. v., ix., etc.
[230] See Sporon & Finsen, Dissert. de Usu Juramenti juxta Leges Daniæ
Antiquas, Havniae, 1815-17, P. I. pp. 160-1, P. II. pp. 206-8.
[231] Christiani V. Jur. Danic. Lib. i. c. xiv. § 8.
[232] Poteritque se tunc purgare cui crimen imponitur juramento XVIII.
virorum.—Raguald. Ingermund. Leg. Suecorum Lib. i. c. xvi.
[233] Legg. Civil. Gustavi Adolphi Tit. X.
[234] Caroli XI. Judicum Regulæ, cap. xxxii.
[235] Ludewig. Reliq. MSS. T. VII. p. 401.
[236] Herb. de Fulstin Statut. Reg. Poloniæ, Samoscii, 1597, pp.
186-88, 465.
By the customs of Iglau, about the middle of the thirteenth century,
a man could rebut with two conjurators a charge of assault with
serious mutilation, and was subject to a fine of fourteen marks if
he failed; accusations of complicity required only the oath of the
accused.—Statuta Primæva Moraviæ, Brunæ, 1781, pp. 103-4.
[237] Bassani de Sacchi Jura Regni Croatiæ, Dalmatiæ et Sclavoniæ.
Zagrabiæ, 1862, Pt. I. p. 182.
[238] Et sic major præsumptio vincit minorem. Si autem querens
probationem habuerit, sicut instrumenta et chartas sigillatas, contra
hujusmodi probationes non erit defensio per legem. Sed si instrumento
contradicatur, fides instrumenti probabitur per patriam et per testes.
Bracton, Lib. IV. Tract. vi. cap. 18, § 6.
The word “secta” is a troublesome one to legal antiquarians from
its diverse significations. As used in the above text it means the
supporters of the plaintiff’s case. Elsewhere we find it denoting the
hue and cry, which all men were bound to follow; see Stubb’s Select
Charters, pp. 256, 366, etc. “Facere sectam” also seems to have the
sense of holding court (Ib. p. 303), whence it also derives a secondary
meaning of jurisdiction (Baildon, Select Civil Pleas, I. 42).
[239] Fleta, Lib. II. c. lxiii. § 10. Sed si sectam [actor] produxerit,
hoc est testimonium hominum legalium qui contractui inter eos
habito interfuerint præesentes, qui a judice examinati si concordes
inveniantur, tunc poterit [reus] vadiare legem suam contra petentem
et contra sectam suam prolatam; ut si duos vel tres testes produxerit
[actor] ad probandum, oportet quod defensio fiat per quatuor vel per
sex; ita quod pro quolibet teste duos producat jurat [ores] usque ad
xii.
[240] 38 Edw. III. St. I. cap. v. (Statutes at Large I. 319. Ed. 1769).