Trial by Combat
idea · 1 work · 7 mentions · 19 anchored passages · cited 3 times in 2 works
trial by combat · duellum · wager of battle · battle · the duellum · champion · judicial combat · judicial duel · the legal duel · trial by battle
in the texts
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
The medieval judicial procedure of settling disputed guilt or claims by armed combat between the parties or their champions.
This chapter has an important bearing upon trial by combat, and none at all upon habeas corpus, to which it is often supposed to be closely related.
“Combat” became the normal mode of deciding pleas among the upper classes.
The duellum had been elbowed aside, although it was not abolished until 1819.