compurgation
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- noun An ancient form of trial in which an accused person could call a number of people, usually 12, to swear to their belief in his or her innocence.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun In early English law, a mode of trial in which the accused was permitted to call twelve persons of his acquaintance to testify to their belief in his innocence.
Examples
-
Very rarely acquittal by compurgation, that is by oath of the accused supported by the oaths of a number of persons that they believed he was telling the truth, was allowed.
-
For civil suits there was a provision against 'wager of battle,' and the accused again cleared themselves by compurgation.
-
He was then attached either by pledges or by imprisonment; and the Justices held a very strict and careful inquisition into the case, as the result of which the accused might be wholly absolved, or he might be compelled to resort to compurgation.
-
He states that cases have come under his notice in which individuals have not only perjured themselves, but in private have not blushed to acknowledge it; and he shows very plainly the futility of the system by affirming that if a townsman objected to anyone claiming compurgation, he ran a risk of being assaulted, maimed, and even murdered.
-
It resembled neither the Roman trial, where the judges made the decision, nor the mediæval compurgation and ordeals, where God was supposed to pronounce the verdict.
Note
The word 'compurgation' comes from a Latin word meaning 'to make pure'.
