Literary texts provide insight into the use of the ordeal that was supposed to occur in the medieval legal system. The greater context of these texts is the flourishing of legal literature that marked a transition from unwritten to written custom, which appeared in the twelfth century and flourished in the thirteenth century. A significant contrast between the English and French legal literature was where the former devoted little attention to custom, mainly because common law superseded custom, the latter was largely written as the history of the custom. Both the literary texts of Glanvill and Beaumanior offer a practical guide of actual legal practice.
In his Coutumes de Beauvaisis, concerning the customs of the district of Clermont, Beaumanior
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For example, as Ada Maria writes, “the first authors seem to have been experimenting with how to do it, and the resulting works display quite a bit of variety.” This is reinforced in Glanvill, as he professed recording all the laws in writing may be impossible “both because of the ignorance of scribes and because of the confused multiplicity of those same laws and rules”. In addition, Maria writes that judges who had the authority to administer justice defined custom and decision-making. This prompts to question whether these literary texts were actually applied in court, primarily as there was always the possibility of it being interpreted much on the judge’s own authority.
As the legal literature serves as a guide, written by those with judicial function, it can be concluded that both the literary texts by Glanvill and Beaumanior provides a close reflection of actual legal practice. The legal literature reflects how the laws and customs of the realm operate in actual legal
Unlike today, the church had a close relationship with the State. There was practically no division between secular and state affairs. The secular law that existed during the Middle Ages in Europe stated that all crimes that were committed we...
"Law and Punishment - Travel Through Elizabethan England." Travel Through Elizabethan England. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
The legal Model is the behavior of judges explaining the law while making decisions. Justices tend to make judgments based off past precedent. Judges subscribe to the legal model for public consumption. J...
To begin studying the decline of witchcraft prosecutions it is important to note the changes in judicial methods. Levack addresses this 'because in most cases it was the objections to witchcraft prosecutions on legal and judicial grounds that first led to their reduction in numbers.' This suggests that the Scientific Revolution and Reformation were actually less significant in initiating the decline. However, the nature of judicial reform actually relied heavily on a new mental outlook. This is highlighted by a growing...
Boardman, Phillip C. "Margery Kempe (c. 1373-1439)." Enduring Legacies: Ancient and Medieval Cultures. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson Custom Pub., 2000. 455-62. Print.
—. The Spirit of the Laws. Ed. J.V. Prichard. Trans. Thomas Nugent. London: Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1914.
Lawyers. In today's culture, just the word alone is enough to inspire countless jokes and endless sarcastic comments. Far from being the most loved profession, lawyers have attained a very bad image despite the importance of their work and the prestige and wealth that usually accompanies it. Were lawyers seen in this fashion when Charles Dickens was writing his magnificent pieces of literature? The image of lawyers of that time may not seem so different to the people who are about to enter the twenty-first century.
In contrary to its contemporary antagonist philosophical schools, who advocate the practices of humanness and the rightness and set ideal of the past, the Legalists, in their complete rejection of the traditional ethics, embraces the efficacy of political power and uphold a society of laws and punishments. As the old feudal states decayed and the smoke of endemic warfare suffused, the need for a more rational government that can afford greater centralized power so as to strengthen a state against its rival increased substantially among the Warring States. Such a rising urge necessitated the emergence of the Legalists and further predetermined the Legalists’ inherent nature – realistic, totalitarian and problem-solving – which, with the realization of its significance and duty in the stream of history, finds its hegemonic character as well.
There were only a few things allowed in prison and writing books was one of them. Morte D’ Artur was written in prison (Kinsinella). Most of the time a trial would be used if there was no hard evidence against the incriminated. There were three types of ordeals that a person could be put through. The fire ordeal would be where the accused would have to walk a distance of about nine feet while holding something that was scolding hot such as a rod (Duhaime). After they walked the distance their hand would be wrapped in bandages. Then the person that was wrapped in bandages would be told to meet back after three days in front of the court if there were any signs of healing then that person was looked at as innocent. The ordeal of water was done in two different ways cold and hot. The cold way was where the accused had their hands and feet tied up and they were put into a body of water, if they floated they were innocent if they drowned they were guilty. The hot way was very similar to the fire ordeal, where the accused had to put hands in boiling water to grab a stone and after three days if healed they were innocent (Duhaime). The reason for the two types of ordeals being involved as much healing as it did because it was believed that the God would intervene and help the innocent and let the guilty perish. The third type of ordeal is combat and this would be used if two parties were accused with no witnesses the two parties would fight, most of the time it was to the death, the winners were said to be innocent (Duhaime). Most of the time the people that had enough money would hire champions (Alchin). In the early 1300’s the Medieval customs of trial by ordeals would be replaced with jury because people started to realize it was too hard to convict someone under the
Along with the irrational means of conviction came harsh punishments that ignored the degree to which they matched the crime. In the Justinian code of Roman law there is an excellent example of the amplification of sentencing that declares “anyone who composes a libellous song to the injury of another” or some other form of publically ridiculing another would be banished to “an island by the authority of a Decree of the Senate”. This declaration is representative of most sentences of ancient codes of laws and further into history, although many verdict...
Solon’s laws were obscure and ambiguous (Plutarch). The court, therefore, and wide powers of interpretation. This gave a significant amount of power even to the thetes. Before a matter could be submitted to the public for vote, it had to be approved by the Council of 400 (Plutarch).
The Agreement between Lord and Vassal is an account of a relationship between Hugh of Lusignan and William V of Aquitaine (who was also Count of Poitiers ). This account is seen through the perspective of Hugh, and provides examples of different powers, actions, and decisions of lords and vassals. According to the introduction of the Agreement, this account was "wrote or dictated " between 1020 and 1025 . Through criticism and analysis of this source, I hope to determine what information historians can gather from a first-person document and how/if this document has a place in the milieu of history.
Over the years, different jurisdictions had built their specific system of rules of conduct to govern behaviour. These legal systems, influenced by historical and cultural roots, can be distinguished in two families, the Civil law and the Common law legal systems. The distinctions lies in the process in which each decision is make by the judge and on the legal sources that shapes the law. Indeed, by contrast to the Common law system, which is largely based on Precedents, meaning the decisions that have already been made by judges in similar cases, the Civil law system is based on legislator’s decisions and legal codes with which judges have to justify their judgment . Consequently, instead of referencing to concepts and rules
11 Mar. 2012. Virtus: Moral Limitations of the Political Sphere in the Middle Ages. Thesis. Bielefeld
Behavioral conduct is regulated through two different avenues: law and morality. Morality is defined as the “rules of behavior an individual or a group may follow out of personal conscience and that are not necessarily part of legislated law” (Encyclopedia of American Law). Morality channels our behavior through a system of incentives; bad acts produce “… guilt and disapprobation, and good acts result in virtuous feelings and praise” (Shavell 228). Law, on the other hand, is concerned with justice and is upheld through “… the threat of sanctions if we disobey legal rules” (Shavell 227). The point of contention occurs when individuals incorrectly assume that a just decision necessitates morality. These individuals dispute the scope of authority that either morality or law should encompass. Morality and law do not operate in different spheres; instead, the laws are created with a primary focus towards persuading individuals to make moral decisions. In both A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt and the Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, difficulty ensues not because law and morality are actually conflicting, but because the individuals interpreting law and morality have varying interpretations.