28.23. 23. Of the Code of Laws on judicial Combats.
Some perhaps will have
a curiosity to see this abominable custom of judiciary combat reduced to
principles and to find the groundwork of such an extraordinary code of
laws. Men, though reasonable in the main, reduce their very prejudices
to rule. Nothing was more contrary to good sense, than those combats,
and yet when once this point was laid down, a kind of prudential
management was used in carrying it into execution.
In order to be thoroughly acquainted with the jurisprudence of those
times, it is necessary to read with attention the regulations of St.
Louis, who made such great changes in the judiciary order. Dfontaines
was contemporary with that prince; Beaumanoir wrote after him,
[135]
and
the rest lived since his time. We must, therefore, look for the ancient
practice in the amendments that have been made of it.
Footnotes
