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Simple English definitions for legal terms
trial by oath
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A quick definition of trial by oath:
Trial by oath is a way of deciding if someone is guilty or innocent by having them swear to tell the truth. This is also called compurgation. Another way of deciding guilt or innocence in the past was trial by combat, where people would fight each other. Nowadays, we have trial by jury, where a group of people listens to the evidence and decides if someone is guilty or innocent. In some cases, there are special courts called Tribal Courts that deal with child custody issues for Native American families.A more thorough explanation:
Definition: Trial by oath is a legal process where a person's guilt or innocence is determined by the sworn testimony of witnesses or the accused themselves. This is also known as compurgation.
Example: In medieval Europe, trial by oath was a common method of resolving disputes. If someone was accused of a crime, they could bring in a certain number of people to swear under oath that they believed the accused was innocent. If enough people swore to the accused's innocence, they would be acquitted.
This example illustrates how trial by oath was used in the past to determine guilt or innocence. It relied on the testimony of witnesses and the belief that a group of people would not lie under oath.