compurgation

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But experience having shown that this method of trial was tumultuary and uncertain, they corrected it by the idea of compurgation.

From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 07 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund

Proof was by compurgation, the ordeal having been abolished by the Church.

From Our Legal Heritage by Reilly, S. A.

They also introduced a barbarous system of trial, that by compurgation, i.e. exculpation by the oath of the defendant supported by a certain number of cojurantes, and that by ordeal, later called judicium Dei.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 8 "France" to "Francis Joseph I." by Various

Nay, nay, he freed himself By oath and compurgation from the charge.

From Queen Mary and Harold by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

It resembled neither the Roman trial, where the judges made the decision, nor the mediæval compurgation and ordeals, where God was supposed to pronounce the verdict.

From An Introduction to the History of Western Europe by Robinson, James Harvey