Torture and the Law of Proof

Europe and England in the Ancien Regime

Chapter titles and excerpts from the book titled "Torture and the Law of Proof Europe and England in the Ancien régime" by John H Langbein 1977 ISBN: 0226468062 : 9780226468068 | OCLC: 2695110

Preface ix
Part 1 Europe Judicial Torture

1
Torture and the Law of Proof

"When the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 abolished the ordeal, it destroyed an entire system of proof. [Carolina Articles 56, 54], The ordeals were means of provoking the judgment of God. _[page 6]

"Because torture tests an accused's capacity to endure pain, not his veracity, innocent person might yield to the pain and torment and confess things they never did." Joost Damhouder ~ 1564 _{[page 9]}

The Jurisprudence of Torture
The Origins of Judicial Torture
The Classical Critique of Judicial Torture
Abolition and the Fairy Tail

Note 1. The Law of Torture,

"Never on Sunday or Holy Days." _{[page 13]}

Threaten first, suggestive questioning, verification, repetition of torture. _{[page 15]}

Note 2. Torturing the Convicted

2 The Transformation of Criminal Sanctions

The Blood Sanctions
Medieval Imprisonment
The Galley Sentence
The Workhouse
Imprisonment
Transportation
Europe and England

3 The Revolution in the Law of Proof

Peona Extraordinaria
Punishment without Full Proof
Carolina to Theresiana
The new Law of Proof in France
Why Poena extraordinaria?

4 The Abolition of Judicial Torture

The Abolition Legislation
The Abolition Legend

Part 2 England The Century of Torture 1540-1640

5
The Torture-Free Law of Proof

"What the English did not do was to regularize the use of torture in their criminal procedure." [_{page 73}]

Peine Forte et Dure
The Jury Standard of Proof
Public Prosecution under the Tudors

6 The Torture Warrants 1540-1640

The Gerard Warrant
Venue
Modes of Torture
Commissioners to Torture

The Purposes of Torture

"In the highest cases of treasons, torture is used for discovery, and not for evidence" - Bacon _{[page 90]}

The Table of Warrants

"The priest George Beesley and his companion (Case 55, 1591) were ordered confined in the Tower to the "prison called Little Ease," a cell so cramped that the inhabitant could neither move nor stand in it.