PROCEDURE IN LAW

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23718, 26 July 1940, Page 10

PROCEDURE IN LAW

EARLY TRIAL BY ORDEAL ORIGIN OF JURY SYSTEM Changes of procedure in the British court of law, and the shifting of man's allegiance from revealed to discovered truth, were detailed by Professor J. Stone, professor of law at Auckland University College, in an extension lecture given in the University Hall last night. Professor Stone said judgment was once given before • any evidence was heard, the function of the court then being not to decide the case, but merely to fix the precise mode in which God's judgment should reveal the truth. The accused might clear himself by taking an oath as to |iis innocence, and if God did not strike liim down as a perjuror that -was taken to prove his innocence. Similarly in various kinds of trials by ordeal, the judgment of God was manifested by whether or not He intervened to protect the accused, said Professor Stone. Ordeals included the glowing iron, boiling water ari€ plough shares, but the most famous was the trial by battle, which consisted of a duel between the accuser and the accused. The theory • was that God would ensure victory to the righteous. "It" was not until 1819 that such procedure was abolished in English law, although it had been obsolete for centuries," continued Professor Stone. "The jury system was originally regarded as one type of ordeal, which prevailed because it w a s favoured by the Royal Court, and eventually superseded all others. Although the jury system is essentially a rational method of investigation, it is interesting to speculate how far it still maintains occasional irrational features springing from its ancient origin."