Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Term: OATH-HELPER
Definition: An oath-helper is someone who goes to court and makes a promise to support a person who is being accused of a crime or involved in a legal case. They are also known as compurgators.
Definition: An oath-helper, also known as a compurgator, is a person who appears in court and makes an oath in support of a civil or criminal defendant.
Example: In medieval times, if someone was accused of a crime, they could ask their friends or family members to be their oath-helpers. These oath-helpers would swear under oath that the accused person was innocent. The more oath-helpers a person had, the more likely they were to be found innocent.
Explanation: The example illustrates how an oath-helper would support a defendant in court by swearing under oath that they were innocent. This was a common practice in medieval times and was used to determine the outcome of a trial. The more oath-helpers a person had, the more likely they were to be found innocent, as it was believed that multiple people swearing under oath was more reliable than just one person's word.