Just Ordeals?
From Rodney Balko, an interesting read:
So the success of the ordeals relied on the guilty believing that God wouldn’t intervene to save them, the innocent fully believing that God would intervene, and a surrounding community willing to accept a high clearance rate for those who allowed themselves to be tested.
As Leeson explains, when doubt entered the system, the delicate balance was thrown askew. But while they lasted—up until the Church of England withdrew its support for the notion in the 13th century—ordeals were a more efficient, likely even more accurate, way of determining guilt than expensive fact-gathering and inquisitions (which were likely subject to their own forms of manipulation).
It’s doubtful there are many lessons we can glean from ordeals today. We aren’t about to return to a society so reliant on divine intervention. But Leeson’s paper is a fascinating look into a system that, though driven by objectively false beliefs, not only produced surprisingly accurate results, but produced results that only became more accurate the more fervently the community believed.
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