Changes

According to one [[theory]], put forward by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Leeson Peter Leeson],'' trial by ordeal'' was surprisingly [[effective]] at sorting the [[guilty]] from the [[innocent]]. Because defendants were believers, only the truly innocent would [[choose]] to [[endure]] a [[trial]]; [[guilty]] defendants would [[confess]] or settle cases instead. Therefore, the [[theory]] goes, [[church]] and [[judicial]] [[authorities]] would routinely rig ordeals so that the [[participants]]—presumably innocent—could pass them. If this [[theory]] is correct, medieval [[superstition]] was actually a useful [[motivating]] [[force]] for [[justice]].

According to one [[theory]], put forward by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Leeson Peter Leeson],'' trial by ordeal'' was surprisingly [[effective]] at sorting the [[guilty]] from the [[innocent]]. Because defendants were believers, only the truly innocent would [[choose]] to [[endure]] a [[trial]]; [[guilty]] defendants would [[confess]] or settle cases instead. Therefore, the [[theory]] goes, [[church]] and [[judicial]] [[authorities]] would routinely rig ordeals so that the [[participants]]—presumably innocent—could pass them. If this [[theory]] is correct, medieval [[superstition]] was actually a useful [[motivating]] [[force]] for [[justice]].

[[Priestly]] [[cooperation]] in trials by [[fire]] and [[water]] was forbidden by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III Pope Innocent III] at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Lateran_Council Fourth Lateran Council of 1215], and replaced by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compurgation compurgation]. Trials by ordeal became rarer over the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Middle_Ages Late Middle Ages], often replaced by [[confessions]] extracted under [[torture]], but the [[practice]] was discontinued only in the 16th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Hartlieb Johannes Hartlieb] in 1456 reports a popular [[superstition]] of how to identify a thief by an ordeal by ingestion practised [[privately]] without [[judicial]] [[sanction]].

[[Priestly]] [[cooperation]] in trials by [[fire]] and [[water]] was forbidden by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III Pope Innocent III] at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Lateran_Council Fourth Lateran Council of 1215], and replaced by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compurgation compurgation]. Trials by ordeal became rarer over the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Middle_Ages Late Middle Ages], often replaced by [[confessions]] extracted under [[torture]], but the [[practice]] was discontinued only in the 16th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Hartlieb Johannes Hartlieb] in 1456 reports a popular [[superstition]] of how to identify a thief by an ordeal by ingestion practised [[privately]] without [[judicial]] [[sanction]].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordeal]

[[Category: Law]]

[[Category: Law]]

[[Category: Anthropology]]

[[Category: Anthropology]]