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Early criminal cases were decided by oath, the ordeal, or the duel. The court would order one of the litigants to muster a body of men who would swear to the justice of his cause and whom it was hoped God would punish if they swore falsely; or condemn him, under the supervision of a priest, to carry a red-hot iron, or eat a morsel of bread, or be plunged in a pool of water. If the iron did not burn or the bread choke or the water reject him, so that he could not sink, then Divine Providence was adjudged to have granted a visible sign that the victim was innocent. |
The duel, or trial by battle, was a Norman innovation based on the modem theory that
the God of Battles will strengthen the arm of the righteous, and was at one time much favoured for deciding disputes
about land.
To decide criminal cases the verdict of recognitors was adopted, gradualy the body of sworn witnesses ( iurati, sworn men, hence Jury), whose numbers used to be added to until twelve were of the same
opinion, became the jury as we know it.
Monasteries and other substantial landowners took the
precaution however of assisting the Almighty by retaining professional champions
to protect their property and
their rights. All this left small room for debate on points of law.
In 1215 the same year that Magna Carta was sealed men were beginning to distrust such antics, and indeed the Church
of Rome banned the ordeal as a method of trial
Some sort of July system has been discovered in the judicial procedure of many ancient peoples, notably those of
northern Europe. Attempts have been made to show that the English system inaugurated by Alfred the Great, but evidence available on a still controversial point strongly suggests that trial by
jury did not come into being as a regular mode procedure until the thirteenth century.
If a defendant preferred to take his case before God, man could not forbid him, and the ordeal therefore was not abolished outright.As late as 1818 a litigant nonplussed the judges by an appeal to trial by battle and compelled Parliament to abolish this ancient procedure.
