Judicial Torture in Canon Law and Church Tribunals: From Gratian to Galileo

Church historians have thought that the ancient and medieval Church disallowed torture in court proceedings. This view draws on Gratian’s Decretum (c. 1140), but Gratian cites canons that permit judicial torture. Deutero-Gratian (c. 1150) added canons from Roman civil law; Huguccio (c. 1190) and the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The catholic historical review
Main Author: Kelly, Henry Ansgar (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: The Catholic University of America Press 2015
In: The catholic historical review
Further subjects:B Canon Law
B Inquisition
B Heresy
B Gratian
B Torture
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Summary:Church historians have thought that the ancient and medieval Church disallowed torture in court proceedings. This view draws on Gratian’s Decretum (c. 1140), but Gratian cites canons that permit judicial torture. Deutero-Gratian (c. 1150) added canons from Roman civil law; Huguccio (c. 1190) and the Ordinary Gloss to the Decretum (1215 and later) also adopted Roman criteria but stipulated that the clergy could not apply coercion involving serious injury or bloodshed. Heresy inquisitors added a twist to this practice well before Galileo’s trial in 1633: a defendant admitting a heterodox deed but denying evil intent must be examined under torture.
ISSN:1534-0708
Contains:Enthalten in: The catholic historical review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/cat.2015.0261