Legal Definitions - juise

Juise is an historical term that primarily referred to a judgment, sentence, or penalty. By extension, it also denoted the instrument of punishment itself, such as a gibbet.

The term juise is a historical legal concept with two main interpretations:

• Firstly, it refers to a judgment, sentence, or penalty delivered by a court or other authority. This encompasses the official decision regarding a person's guilt or responsibility, and the subsequent punishment or consequence imposed.

• Secondly, by extension, juise could also denote the physical instrument or apparatus used to carry out a punishment, particularly in historical contexts where public executions and corporal punishments were common. A notable example of such an instrument is a gibbet, a structure used for hanging or displaying the bodies of executed criminals.

Here are some examples illustrating the historical application of juise:

• Imagine a feudal court in 14th-century England where a peasant was found guilty of poaching on the lord's land. The court's decision to have the peasant publicly whipped and then banished from the manor would be considered the juise. This illustrates the term as the formal judgment and the penalty imposed by the legal authority.

• Consider a bustling town square in 17th-century Europe where a convicted criminal was to face execution. The imposing wooden gallows, specifically constructed for the purpose of carrying out the death sentence, would have been referred to as the juise. This example highlights the term's meaning as the physical instrument of punishment.

• In a medieval guild, if a master craftsman repeatedly failed to meet the established quality standards for his work, the guild might hold a disciplinary hearing. Their collective decision to strip him of his master status and forbid him from practicing his trade within the city walls for a year would constitute the juise. Here, it represents a severe penalty or sanction imposed by a governing body, reflecting the historical breadth of such judgments beyond just state courts.