Ordeal

Sometimes the decision was referred to the intervention of Providence by appealing to the ordeal of the red–hot iron or the more dreaded ordeal of water.

In Anglo–Saxon times, these were mainly compurgation, ordeal, witnesses (whose functions were, however, widely different from those of witnesses in modern law), and charters.

In 1217 a change occurred, which was undoubtedly a consequence of the virtual abolition of the ordeal by the Lateran Council in 1215.

The portions of it which deal with Evidence appear to me especially remarkable, not only for the legal doctrine, which (though the writer believes in Ordeals) is on the whole extremely modern, but for the elevation of moral tone displayed in its language on the subject of true and false witness, which should be set off against the unveracity attributed to the modern Hindu.

divine proof is of nine kinds, from the balance ordeal to the *dharma* ordeal.

In accusations of great sins and in the theft of a deposit, the king should examine the case by ordeals, even if witnesses exist.

If doubt arises in a written document or in the testimony of witnesses, and when inference is confused, an ordeal is the means of clarification there.

Ordeals

In a great offense, the king should administer ordeals (`divyāni` (दिव्यानि)).

In crimes of violence and accusations, the procedure of ordeal (`divyaḥ` (दिव्यः)) is proclaimed.