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Definition of Trial by ordeal
1. Noun. A primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control; escape was usually taken as a sign of innocence.
Definition of Trial by ordeal
1. Noun. (legal) : Archaic practice by which a person accused of a crime could prove his innocence by his survival of physically painful tests. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Trial By Ordeal
Literary usage of Trial by ordeal
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Commentaries on the Laws of England by Herbert Broom, Edward Alfred Hadley, William Wait, William Blackstone (1875)
"trial by ordeal. ,b /14 '.,, : . , i .1 . ,. • purgation, which was by the oath
of the party. This was of two sorts (0), either fire-ordeal, or water-ordeal ..."
2. The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution: An Historical Treatise by Hannis Taylor (1898)
"2 After the decree Trial by or- of the Lateran Council forbidding it, trial by
ordeal became obsolete,3 and the petty jury gradually took its place as a ..."
3. Christian Missions and Social Progress: A Sociological Study of Foreign Missions by James Shepard Dennis (1897)
"... or exposure to death are resorted to with a view of testing and so discovering
the innocence or guilt The trial by ordeal—in of some suspected person. ..."
4. Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places by Walter Thornbury, Edward Walford (1881)
"Bartholomew Fair— A Seven Days' Tournament— Duels «nd Trial by Ordeal in Smithfield—
Terrible Instances of the Odium ..."
5. Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: A Record of Intimate by Edwin Herbert Gomes (1911)
"They have the trial by ordeal, and believe that the gods are sure to help the
innocent and punish the guilty. I have heard of several different methods, ..."
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