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ESSAYS ON
THE WAGER OF LAW—THE WAGER OF BATTLE—THEORDEAL—TORTURE.
BY
HENRY CHARLES LEA, LL.D.
Plurima est et in omni jure civili, et in pontificum libris, et in XII. tabulis,antiquitatis effigies.—Cicero, de Oratore I. 43.
FOURTH EDITION, REVISED.
PHILADELPHIA:
LEA BROTHERS & CO.
1892.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1892, by
HENRY C. LEA,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress. All rights reserved.
COLLINS PRINTING HOUSE.
v
The history of jurisprudence is the history of civilization.The labors of the lawgiver embody not only themanners and customs of his time, but also its innermostthoughts and beliefs, laid bare for our examination with afrankness that admits of no concealment. These affordthe surest outlines for a trustworthy picture of the past,of which the details are supplied by the records of thechronicler.
It is from these sources that I have attempted, in thepresent work, a brief investigation into the group of lawsand customs through which our forefathers sought to discoverhidden truth when disputed between man and man.Not only do these throw light upon the progress ofhuman development from primitive savagism to civilizedenlightenment, but they bring into view some of thestrangest mysteries of the human mind.
In this edition I have endeavored to indicate, moreclearly than before, the source, in prehistoric antiquity,of some of the superstitions which are only even nowslowly dying out among us, and which ever and anonvireassert themselves under the thin varnish of our modernrationalism.
In a greatly condensed form the first three essaysoriginally appeared in the North American Review.
June, 1878.
Although in the revision of this volume for a fourthedition there has not been found much to alter, considerableadditions have been made which render thesurvey of the subject more complete. In revising theessays on the Wager of Battle and the Ordeal I havehad the advantage of the labors of two recent writers,Dr. Patetta, whose “Le Ordalie” is an extended andphilosophical investigation into the whole topic of theJudgments of God, and George Neilson, Esq., whose“Trial by Combat” is a complete account, from theoriginal sources, of the history of the judicial duel inGreat Britain. Mr. Neilson has also had the courtesyto communicate to me the results of his further studiesof the subject. I therefore indulge the hope that thepresent edition