TRIAL BY ORDEAL

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Hello guy's, it's @pasaift again.
I know that many of us ain't so happy with the judicial system in our various places. We most likely say that it is corrupt, and most times not fair. Well, this may be true to some extent, but our modern trail method is much more preferable to previous means of trials we had decades and centuries back. By the time you read through this, yu'd begin to appreciate what we have in Place.

Let me begin with the definition of trial by ordeal.

Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. The test was one of life or death, and the proof of innocence was survival.

Scary right? Unlike today where judgement is passed based on evidence and testimony given by a witness.

There were many types of trials by ordeal, but I'd just be taking few of them.

Ordeal by fire

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This was a real form of torture. This required the accused to walked a specified distance usually 9feets over red hot iron or coal. The person was deemed innocent if there was absence of injury. Also, if a lady were to be accused of adultery she would stand in in accused ulterior pyre or circle of flame. And would be declared innocent if she was not burnt. How is it even possible for someone to be declared innocent when you are not Deanery Stormborn, mother of dragons from the house Targaryen?

Ordeal by Combat

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A perfect example of this is the type we've all seen in the cowboy movies. Where two gunslingers would have a shoot out, and whoever survived was innocent. This type of trail also happened to involve sword fights. Those who didn't survive were deemed guilty. Lucky me I wasn't born then.

Ordeal by water

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Largely practiced around the 17th century. An accused would be tied and thrown into a river. If he sank, he would be declared innocent. Though he may be dead already. But if you happened to float, your guilt had been proved. Fat people did occasionally float due to body fat. After you have been confirmed guilty, yu'd be killed. So basically both innocent and guilty still died.

Ordeal by drinking deceased bath water

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This was practiced up till the 20th century. This ordeal was basically for widows, they had to drink the water used in washing the body of their deceased husbands. Obviously, this wasn't clean water as the body was not also fresh. So if the widow doesn't fall ill or die, then she is considered innocent.

It goes without saying that many innocents lost their lives because of these ordeals. I'm glad that these practices are now obsolete as we have an advanced system to decide who is guilty and who is innocent. Lucky are we to have a judicial system.
Remain Blessed. @pasaift