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Ordeal
Related Category: Legal Terms and Concepts
ancient legal custom whereby an accused person was required to perform a test, the outcome of which decided the person's guilt or innocence.
ORDEAL. An ancient superstitious mode of tribal. When in a criminal case the accused was arraigned, be might select the mode of trial either by God and his country, that is, by jury; or by God only, that is by ordeal.
McPherson, James M. Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction, 2d ed. New York: Knopf, 1992.
Potter, David M. The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861. Completed and edited by Don. E. Fehrenbacher. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.
But the ordeal, even within sanctuary, was no piece of cake. The fugitive had to remain within the walls of the sanctuary, abandon his or her oath to the king, followed which they had a short period of time to leave the country.
Speaking of the "ordeals," the "waging of God's law," for example, he traces the customs of purification by fire, water, iron, &c., to the practice of oaths (Sans. am; Gr. 6 / 21,v At.; O. Ital. omr = first group; O. Ger. ails, Ir.
Expanded Legal Definition of Trial by BattleTrial by Ordeal The trial of a criminal or civil action, in medieval England, by torture or drowning.
DEI JUDICIUM - The judgment of God. This name was given to the barbarous and superstitious trial by ordeal.
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