Compurgation, also called trial by oath, wager of law, and oath-helping, was a defence used primarily in medieval law. A defendant could establish their innocence or nonliability by taking an oath and by getting a required number of persons, typically twelve, to swear they believed the defendant's oath.
The wager of law was essentially a character reference, initially by kin and later by neighbours (from the same region as the defendant), often 11 or 12 men, and it was a way to give credibility to the oath of a defendant at a time when a person's oath had more credibility than a written record. It can be compared to a legal wager, which is the provision of surety at the beginning of legal action to minimize frivolous litigation.
Compurgation was found in early Germanic law, in early French law (très ancienne coutume de Bretagne), in Welsh law, and in the English ecclesiastical courts until the seventeenth century. In common law it was substantially abolished as a defence in felonies by the Constitutions of Clarendon in 1164. The defence was still permitted in civil actions for debt and vestiges of it survived until its statutory repeal at various times in common law countries: in England in 1833,[1] and Queensland at some point before the Queensland Common Practice Act of 1867[2] which makes direct reference to the abolition of wager of law.
^Friedman, Lawrence Meir (1975), The Legal System: A Social Science Perspective, Russell Sage Foundation, p. 272
^Common Law Practice Act 1867(PDF), Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel, 24 June 1994, Wager of law abolished – 3. No wager of law shall be allowed.
Compurgation, also called trial by oath, wager of law, and oath-helping, was a defence used primarily in medieval law. A defendant could establish their...
especially felonies, included trial by ordeal, trial by battle, or trial by compurgation (trial by oath), in which evidence, inspection, and inquiry was made...
Innocent III at the Fourth Council of the Lateran of 1215 and replaced by compurgation. Trials by ordeal became rarer over the Late Middle Ages, but the practice...
In the ecclesiastical courts, the most common form of trial was by compurgation. If the defendant swore an oath to his innocence and found twelve compurgators...
Cadillac Gage Commando, used by Police Surety, in an action of debt; see Compurgation § Surety Gaige (disambiguation) Gauge (disambiguation) This disambiguation...
manorial court. The earlier Anglo-Saxon method of trial by ordeal or of compurgation was modified by the Normans into trial by a jury made up of 12 local...
reign of Henry IV of England by the Parliament of England. It abolished compurgation for high treason and theft. Benefit of clergy High treason in the United...
century in the form of witch-hunts. Whilst common in early Germanic law, compurgation was formally adopted in Rome by Pope Innocent III in 1215 at the Fourth...
time. When it came to evidence in other European courts, things such as compurgation, which is the defendant taking an oath over his stance and getting around...
canon against clerical participation in trial by ordeal, replacing it by compurgation. September 13 – King John of England seeks help from Innocent III in...
ISBN 978-0-253-21656-4. Pavlac (2009), p. 29. Pavlac (2009), p. 31': "Both compurgation and ordeal were believed to take place under the beneficent care of God...
answer, guilt or innocence were established by oath, often in the form of compurgation, or trial by ordeal. During the 11th and 12th centuries, juries were...
Legal proceedings were of three kinds: trial by eyewitnesses, trial by compurgation and trial by jury. In early medieval Sweden, each Land (province) was...
came to court, the method used to come to a decision was usually by compurgation. Under this system the person accused or the parties to a dispute would...
10; but it seems historically to have been derived from the system of compurgation, introduced into England from Normandy, a system which is now thought...
pursuit and restoration of fugitives. In judicial procedure, a system of compurgation prevailed, as well as the wager of battle. The general assembly of free...
sought through methods invoking divine intervention: trial by oath (compurgation) and trial by ordeal. In criminal cases, three forms of ordeal were used:...
existence of heresy. The people would be required to swear under oath (compurgation) anything they knew about heretical activity. All oath-breakers were...
killing of a freeman by a servant 3. Accusations of person-stealing and compurgation for the accused 4. Provision for the family of dead freemen: maternal...
canon against clerical participation in trial by ordeal, replacing it by compurgation. September 13 – King John of England seeks help from Innocent III in...
frustrate the abbot at every turn and the dependence of proceedings on compurgation or purging of guilt by oath tended to forge a solidarity among them....
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