Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Ordeal
Hist. A primitive form of trial in which an accused person was subjected to a dangerous or painful physical test, the result being considered a divine revelation of the person's guilt or innocence. ( The participants believed that God would reveal a person's culpability by protecting an innocent person from the torture. The ordeal was commonly used in Europe as late as the 13th century, and was sporadically used even later. - Also termed trial by ordeal; judicium Dei ("judgment of God"); vulgaris purgatio. CC CANFARA.
cold-water ordeal
See ORDEAL.
fire ordeal
See ORDEAL.
hot-water ordeal.
See ORDEAL.
ordeal by fire
An ordeal in which the accused person was forced to hold a piece of hot metal or to walk barefoot across a hot surface, the judgment of guilt or innocence depending on how quickly the person's hands or feet healed. - Also termed fire ordeal.
ordeal by water
1. An ordeal in which guilt or innocence depended on whether the accused person floated or sank after being submerged in cold water. 0 Those who sank were declared innocent, while those who floated were adjudged guilty because floating revealed the water's (and therefore God's) rejection of the accused. This type of ordeal was used esp. in witchcraft trials. - Also termed ordeal by cold water. 2. An ordeal in which guilt or innocence was determined by how quickly the accused person's arm healed after being placed in boiling water. - Also termed (in sense 2) ordeal by hot water; (in both senses) water ordeal.
trial by ordeal
See ORDEAL.