Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence . A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion , robbery , and murder , either as an individual or in groups. Banditry is a vague concept of criminality and in modern usage can be synonymous for gangsterism , brigandage , marauding , terrorism , piracy and thievery .
139-537: The term bandit (introduced to English via Italian around 1776) originates with the early Germanic legal practice of outlawing criminals, termed *bamnan (English ban ). The legal term in the Holy Roman Empire was Acht or Reichsacht , translated as " Imperial ban ". In modern Italian, the equivalent word "bandito" literally means banned or a banned person. The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED) defined "bandit" in 1885 as "one who
278-437: A big concern, as well as poor sanitation. The jails turned into breeding houses of illness. Furthermore, the jails were even unable to fulfill their basic purpose of containing offenders within its walls. Escapes were very frequent. The prisons held not only those who were awaiting trial but also people who owed money, called debtors. These people were free during the day so they could work to pay off their debt but they returned to
417-506: A commander sent to hunt down local bandits. However, such patronage did not guarantee immunity. An effective and determined official, empowered by influential superiors or eunuchs, could pose a severe threat to bandits’ survival. Through a well-planned raid, Ning Gao, a client of another powerful eunuch Liu Jin, successfully wounded and captured Zhang Mao, who was then transported to Beijing and executed. Even though bandits were subject to capital punishment, they could still be incorporated into
556-413: A compromise. In other cases, social networks were enlisted to help a defendant, or the church lent money to end the feud. Payment could be taken in kind rather than in currency. When compensations could not be paid, the plaintiff had the option to enslave the defendant The ordeal ( judicium Dei "judgment of God") was a method used to cause God to reveal the guilt or innocence of a person accused of
695-501: A crime. It relied on the notion that God would intervene in the world to prevent the condemnation of an innocent person. Similar practices are attested in other cultures around the world, including in the Code of Hammurabi . Methods found in the Leges and in later medieval laws included the trial by hot water, in which a person dipped their hand into a boiling cauldron, of hot iron, in which
834-414: A day watch was implemented in many areas. In extreme situations, such as riots, the colonial communities often had to call out the militia. Riots, a common disturbance in colonial America, occurred for many reasons including to contest elections, to protest economic conditions, or to enforce standards of morality. Even at the first sign of a riot the mayor or some other official would appear and literally read
973-467: A form of marriage at all. Traditionally, the earliest state organization among the Germanic peoples has been described as a "tribe". "Tribes" were argued to have been stable, genetically and culturally united nations that had their own laws, territories, and state proto-state institutions. The use of the word "tribe" includes the implication that the various Germanic peoples were in fact subdivisions of
1112-427: A great deal of legal significant ritual, gesture, language, and symbolism, in order to create a specific legal procedure. Because oral law can never be fixed in the same way as written law, the use of correct procedure was in fact more important than the ultimate legal decision reached and the law was ultimately whatever the community decided was valid at a given time. Due to the originally oral nature of Germanic law,
1251-525: A large law-enforcement establishment, separate juvenile-justice system, and prisons and institutions of probation and parole. Criminal matters were also not the top priority of the sheriff and the courts. The lack of a large institutional framework was a result of relatively small and homogenous colonial communities. These colonies were self-policing and social control was maintained by an omnipresent set of informal restrictions. They also depended on community pressure to regulate human conduct. In Western culture,
1390-595: A large number of bandits were actually garrison soldiers and had access to and able usage of weapons and armors. Another skill was the ability to deploy road blocks to stop and prey on travelers. Once they forcefully acquired goods and commodities, bandits had to sell them. One 1485 official report revealed that local people, some probably working as fences (see Fences in Ming China ), purchased stolen animals and goods from highway bandits at lower prices. Robinson further points out that "[a] widespread network to dispose of
1529-469: A larger "Germanic" people. According to this understanding, the "tribes" would then go on to found the individual early Germanic kingdoms of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages as "tribal states". Since the work of Reinhard Wenskus in the 1960s, scholars have begun to use the term gens (plural gentes ), communities claiming (rather than possessing) shared biological descent, as
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#17327733371801668-686: A living. Also, policies and conditions in the Capital Region provided opportunities for soldiers/bandits to dodge governmental punishment. During the Ming Dynasty, military and civil jurisdictions were separated. This was especially troubling when soldiers lived physically far from their superiors: when soldiers committed robbery, civil officials had no jurisdiction nor power to apprehend them. Policy of transporting nearby garrisons to Beijing for annual training also created opportunities for banditry. One official reported that soldiers travelling by
1807-463: A lot of room for creativity and mistakes. The colonists were largely left to their own devices concerning the details of their developing criminal justice system. The new environment the colonists encountered in the New World, especially the western frontier, also affected the way the law was shaped. The system was molded to fit the colonists’ needs as they settled further and further west. Vigilantism
1946-520: A meeting of the great men of the kingdom, of its army, or of its people; whereas the southern Leges mention the role of the king, the northern ones do not. A word attested meaning "law" as well as "religion" in West Germanic languages is represented by Old High German êwa ; there is some evidence for the word's existence from names preserved in Old Norse and Gothic. Êwa is used in
2085-400: A method was used, it was most often a public hanging. Usually capital offenses, such as murder or rape, or repeated serious offenses constituted a need for an execution. Imprisonment was uncommon in colonial America since the budding colonies did not have people to spare to keep the community in order. Every person was valuable for their working ability, and losing even one worker to lawkeeping
2224-604: A model for the police forces in most countries, such as the United States, and most of the then British Empire (Commonwealth). Bobbies can still be found in many parts of the world (for example in British Overseas Territories or ex-colonies such as Bermuda, Gibraltar or St Helena). The model of policing in Britain had as its primary role the keeping of the king's peace and this has continued to
2363-451: A person carried a burning hot iron, and trial by combat , in which two fighters fought to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused party. The most important of these was the trial by combat. A Germanic origin for the trial by combat is generally accepted. It appears early and widely among many Germanic peoples. Dusil, Kannowski, and Schwedler write that it is an important difference between Germanic and Roman law, and derive it from
2502-475: A police force was created by the time of the Fifth Dynasty (25th – 24th century BC). The guards, chosen by kings and nobles from among the military and ex-military, were tasked with apprehending criminals and protecting caravans, public places and border forts before the creation of a standing army. The police used lethal and non-lethal tools (such as wooden staffs) and utilized monkeys and dogs . During
2641-424: A police officer (a.k.a. constable) at the prefectural office. To catch a thief, a constable can arrest another thief by baiting him with a forged opportunity and use the thief's same-field knowledge to predict the one in question. The assisting thief would still be punished for robbery but since he assisted the officer his punishment would be lowered. By Ming law, police officers have a strict time schedule to arrest
2780-404: A sheriff was not enough to keep their colonies safe and crime-free. Many villages and cities began adding other criminal justice agents to help maintain order. The rising populations were proving to be too much to handle for just one law enforcement agent in the county. The mayor was originally the chief law enforcement official, but he acted only in extreme circumstances. In addition to the sheriff,
2919-534: A trial were announced by the "town crier", and punishment for most trivial crimes usually consisted of confiscation of merchandise or even imprisonment since various prisons existed throughout the Empire. For the most part, crime was viewed as a private matter in Ancient Greece and Rome . Even with offenses as serious as murder, justice was the prerogative of the victim's family and private war or vendetta
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#17327733371803058-487: A variant of tîsdag ("day of Tyr"), has led to the theory that the thing stood under the protection of Tyr in pagan times. The Leges Alamannorum specified that all free men were required to appear at a popular assembly, but such a specification is otherwise absent for the Frankish Merovingian period . In later periods outside Scandinavia, the assemblies were composed of important persons rather than
3197-416: A way to distance discussion of Germanic tribes from this earlier way of thinking. In this new understanding, Germanic peoples were not stable ethnic units, but were constantly breaking up and reforming in a process of ethnogenesis . Moreover, it is unclear whether the gentes formed the early Germanic kingdoms, or whether they were not instead created as part of the process of state formation. Besides
3336-402: Is proscribed or outlawed ; hence, a lawless desperate marauder, a brigand : usually applied to members of the organized gangs which infest the mountainous districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, Iran, and Turkey". In modern usage the word has become a synonym for "thief", hence the term "one-armed bandit" for gambling machines that can leave the gambler with no money. " Social banditry "
3475-573: Is a term invented by the historian Eric Hobsbawm in his 1959 book Primitive Rebels , a study of popular forms of resistance that also incorporate behaviour characterized as illegal. He further expanded the field in the 1969 study Bandits . Social banditry is a widespread phenomenon that has occurred in many societies throughout recorded history, and forms of social banditry still exist, as evidenced by piracy and organized crime syndicates. Tradition depicts medieval German robber barons as bandits. Pope Sixtus V had about 5,000 bandits executed in
3614-572: Is believed to be the High Constables of Edinburgh , who were created by the Scottish parliament in 1611 to "guard their streets and to commit to ward all person found on the streets after the said hour". The first police force in the modern sense was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police the city of Paris , then the largest city of Europe and considered the most dangerous European city. The royal edict, registered by
3753-468: Is not well attested outside of much later Scandinavian sources, whereas kingship for military leadership is. Dennis Howard Green argues for a development of the terminology from þiudans to truhtin to cuning , reflecting a change in the nature of Germanic kingship first to a primarily military institution and then to a more permanent, dynastic institution. The Germanic languages attest several words for clans or kinship groups, most prominently
3892-466: Is that Germanic law is best understood in contrast with Roman law , in that whereas Roman law was "learned" and the same across regions, Germanic law was not learned and incorporated regional peculiarities. This consensus has replaced an older one as a result of a reevaluation of notions of Germanic beginnings and the associated nationalist ideologies to which they were attached. Earlier scholars, inspired by Tacitus and Julius Caesar , often conceived of
4031-613: The Monumenta Germaniae Historica in the 19th century. The law codes are written in Latin, often using many Latinized Germanic terms, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon law codes , which were written in the vernacular as early as the sixth century. The Leges share features such as orality , the importance of court procedure, and a reliance on compensatory justice to settle disputes. The Leges are
4170-512: The Parlement of Paris on March 15, 1667, created the office of lieutenant général de police ("lieutenant general of police"), who was to be the head of the new Paris police force, and defined police as the task of "ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties". This office
4309-398: The shurta was "an urban force for the suppression of crime" that originated as a branch of the military. They were responsible for dealing with brigands and allegedly rebels as well as exercising judicial functions (often in rivalry with the qadi ). The muhtasib was responsible for enforcing laws on markets, Islamic morality and sumptuary laws for dhimmis . In Ancient Egypt
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4448-579: The Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period . In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having a limited authority and employment period. In Ancient China, under the rule of Dang Lin Wang, a new judicial system emerged. This new system had prefects appointed by local magistrates, who in turn were appointed by the head of state, usually the emperor of the dynasty. The prefects oversaw
4587-523: The Germanic peoples as a unified entity, which they were not. Because of this, Germanic law was not a single legal system, but a group of related systems. Although Germanic law never appears to have been a competing, unified system to Roman law, commonalities in the Germanic laws can still be described as "Germanic" when contrasted with Roman law. These include emphases on orality , gesture, formulaic language, legal symbolism, and ritual. Some items in
4726-623: The Herules , the Gepids , and the Saxons . According to Tacitus kings were elected from a group of eligible candidates by the people, but had no power of command (Germania, 7). Walter Pohl argues that the authority of the king was probably personal rather than directly related to the office. The power of the kings grew over time: while they originally seem to have been mostly military leaders, they became more institutionalized, authoritative rulers in
4865-503: The Leges dealt with Germanic groups living either as foederati or conquerors among Roman people and regulating their relationship to them. These earliest codes, written by Visigoths in Spain (475), were probably not intended to be valid solely for the Germanic inhabitants of these kingdoms, but for the Roman ones as well. These earliest law codes influenced those that followed, such as
5004-489: The Leges generally treated any legal matter as something that might be settled privately. While some scholars have argued that the feud may have originated in "vulgar Latin law," the feud is ubiquitous in the Leges and of later Germanic literature, making a non-Roman origin fairly certain. However, the different Leges make different assumptions about feuds and do provide a uniform picture of how they looked or functioned. The existence of feuds between kindred groups among
5143-686: The Leges in particular derive from a Germanic culture. Scholarly consensus as of 2023 is that Germanic law is best understood in opposition to Roman law, in that it was not "learned" and incorporated regional peculiarities. While the Leges Barbarorum were written in Latin and not in any Germanic vernacular , codes of Anglo-Saxon law were produced in Old English . The study of Anglo-Saxon and continental Germanic law codes has never been fully integrated. As of 2023, scholarly consensus
5282-468: The Leges , faida ) refers to a form of violent self-help whereby a wronged party sought to address a wrong by exacting violence or vengeance themselves. German scholars tend to understand the feud as a legal institution based on individual liberty, the lack of a powerful public authority, and the need for local conflict resolution, whereas Francophone scholarship has instead emphasized feuding as illegal activity. Whereas Roman law did not allow feuding,
5421-483: The Leges , such as the use of vernacular words, may reveal aspects of originally Germanic, or at least non-Roman law. Legal historian Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand writes that this vernacular, often in the form of Latinized words, belongs to "the oldest layers of a Germanic legal language" and shows some similarities to Gothic. Philologist and historian, D.H. Green , stated that the introduction of Germanic "vernacular legal terms, even in partly Latinized form" does not occur until
5560-815: The Praetorian Guard for assistance. Beginning in the 5th century, policing became a function of clan chiefs and heads of state. During the Middle Ages , crime and punishment were dealt with through blood feuds (or trial by ordeal ) between the parties. Payment to the victim (or their family), known as wergild , was another common punishment, including for violent crimes. For those who could not afford to buy their way out of punishment, harsh penalties included various forms of corporal punishment . These included mutilation , whipping , branding , and flogging , as well as execution . Västgötalagen specifies exactly how much to pay, if anything, depending on who
5699-435: The blood feud outside of clan groups, which were settled via compensation in the form of ( wergild ). This reconstructed legal system also excluded certain criminals by outlawry , and administratively contained a degree of sacral kingship ; retinues formed around the kings bound by oaths of loyalty. Early ideas about Germanic law have come under intense scholarly scrutiny since the 1950s and specific aspects of it such as
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5838-600: The early Middle Ages , the Friedelehe , Kebsehe , and polygamy were abolished in favor of the Muntehe through the attacks of the Church. None of the three forms of marriage posited by older scholarship appear as such in medieval sources. Academic works in the 1990s and 2000s rejected the notion of Friedelehe as a construct for which no evidence is found in the sources, while Kebsehe has been explained as not being
5977-472: The miasma theory of disease ; thus, cemeteries were moved out of town, etc.), surveillance of prices , etc. Development of modern police was contemporary to the formation of the state, later defined by sociologist Max Weber as detaining "the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force ", primarily exercised by the police and the military . After the troubles of the French Revolution
6116-633: The "gentile system" of laws, or whether such a system even lasted into the High Middle Ages with the Sachsenspiegel . Traditionally, the Leges have been understood as only applying to one ethnically defined gens within a kingdom, thus excluding Romans and any other gens that was incorporated into a polity - persons belonging to that group would be judged by their own law ("personality of law"). This principle originated in Roman law. However, scholarly disagreement exists whether
6255-540: The 1870s, with brigands such as Giuseppe Musolino and Francesco Paolo Varsallona forming bandit gangs at the turn of the 20th century. Salvatore Giuliano and Gaspare Pisciotta formed a brigand group in Sicily in the 1940s to 1950 and similarly became known as folk heroes. Sardinia has a long history of banditry , with the bandit and kidnapping group anonima sarda being the most recent manifestation of this phenomenon. In Nazi-occupied Europe from 1939 to 1945,
6394-406: The 1950s, these commonalities were held to be the result of a distinct Germanic legal culture. Scholarship since then has questioned this premise and argued that many "Germanic" features instead derive from provincial Roman law . Although most scholars no longer hold that Germanic law was a distinct legal system, some still argue for the retention of the term and for the potential that some aspects of
6533-550: The 8th century, probably at the behest of the Catholic Church . The final set of law codes issued on the continent, the Ewa ad Amorem , Lex Frisonum , Lex Saxonum , and Lex Thuringorum , were written under the patronage of Charlemagne in the 9th century; these codes all show marked similarities to the early codes. In contrast to Roman Law, which was generally created by the emperors, Germanic legal culture regarded
6672-823: The Burgundian Lex Burgundionum (between 480 and 501) issued by king Gundobad , and the Frankish Lex Salica (between 507 and 511), possibly issued by Clovis I . The final law code of this earliest series of codifications was the Edictus Rothari , issued in 643 by the Lombard King Rothari . The next set of law codes to be composed, the Lex and Pactus Alemannorum and the Lex Bajuvariorum , were written in
6811-625: The Capital Region. The Region was agriculturally disadvantaged due to constant flood, and thus the peasants often lived in poverty. Furthermore, the Region's economy provided plentiful opportunities for highway robbery. In addition to the highly developed economy of Beijing, the Region also contained numerous commercial cities; these cities not only attracted merchants but also bandits. Robinson also points out that many eunuchs in Beijing resorted to banditry. As Shih-Shan Henry Tsai explained, self-castration
6950-607: The German doctrine of Bandenbekämpfung ("bandit fighting") portrayed opponents of the Greater Germanic Reich as "bandits" — dangerous criminals who did not deserve any consideration as human beings. German authorities suppressed partisan opposition with maximum force and, usually, with the mass slavery of civilians from partisan -controlled areas. Banditry (Dao, qiangdao) in Ming China (1368–1644)
7089-664: The Government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police . This was the first professional police service in the world that differed from previous law enforcement in that it was a preventive police force. This was quickly followed in other Scottish towns, which set up their own police forces by individual Acts of Parliament. On September 29, 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act
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#17327733371807228-582: The Grand Canal from adjacent garrisons to the capital committed robbery and murder against civilian travelers and merchants; on the land, these soldiers had fallen into mounted banditry as well. Bandits’ technique involved the martial skills to use various weapons, ranging from bows and arrows to swords. Another important skill was horsemanship, especially in the Northern Capital Region, where mounted banditry concentrated. As shown above,
7367-708: The Latin texts of the Leges barbaroum to mean the unwritten laws and customs of the people, but comes also to refer to the codified written laws as well. Jacob Grimm argued that Êwa 's use to also mean "religion" meant there was also a religious dimension to pre-Christian Germanic law; Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand [ de ] argues instead that the legal term êwa was given a Christian religious significance by Christian missionaries, in common with other legal terms that lacked any pagan religious significance that acquired Christian meanings. The Germanic peoples had an originally entirely oral legal culture , which involved
7506-405: The Leges barbarorum, as well as in later vernacular legal texts, beginning with Old English (7th–9th centuries). There is no evidence for a universal Proto-Germanic legal terminology; rather the individual languages show a diversity of legal terminologies, with the earliest examples lacking even a common Germanic word for "law". There are, however, many examples of Germanic legal terms shared across
7645-450: The Leges contain catalogues of compensation prices to be paid by the perpetrator to his victims or the victim's relatives for committing a personal offense. In the West Germanic languages, this payment is known by the term Old High German : buoza , Old English : bōta . This form of legal reconciliation aimed to prevent the erupting of feuds by offering a peaceful way to end disputes between groups. The codification of these catalogues
7784-556: The Ming Dynasty , James W. Tong uses data from provincial and prefectural gazetteers of the Ming and the Qing Dynasties to analyze patterns of violence during the Ming Dynasty. Tong analyzes that the peasants had to make a "rational choice" between surviving harsh conditions and surviving through illegal activities of banditry. He identifies multiple important factors in peasants' calculation of whether to become bandits or not, such as
7923-524: The Paris police force was extended to the rest of France by a royal edict of October 1699, resulting in the creation of lieutenants general of police in all large French cities or towns. However, this early conceptualization of police was quite different from today's police forces, exclusively in charge of maintaining order and arresting criminals. As conceptualized by the Polizeiwissenschaft ,
8062-551: The Paris police force was reorganized by Napoléon I on February 17, 1800, as the Prefecture of Police , along with the reorganization of police forces in all French cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. On March 12, 1829, a government decree created the first uniformed policemen in Paris and all French cities, known as sergents de ville ("city sergeants"), which the Paris Prefecture of Police's website claims were
8201-408: The Roman provinces. This makes it difficult to determine whether commonalities between them derive from a common Germanic legal conception or not. The term leges barbarorum , 'laws of the barbarians', used by editor Paolo Canciani [ it ] as early as 1781, reflects a negative value judgement on the actual law codes produced by these Germanic peoples. It was retained by the editors of
8340-426: The absence of uniformity across the codes. Noel Lenski has instead argued that the range of enumerated offenses for personal injury is generally uniform across the codes and that the compositions mirror one another closely if calculated as a percentage of an individual's Wergild value, indications of a shared tradition. In the event that a person was killed or wounded, an animal was stolen, or other offenses committed
8479-521: The accused rather than just punishment. The main goal was to bring order back to society. Most of the minor cases in the county only involved the judge while more serious crimes were heard by a court of several judges. The courts met only periodically, slowing down the sentencing of serious crimes. Although the colonial courts did closely mimic the proceedings of the courts of England, they were much simpler and more informal. They were also made available to everyone and used to relieve tensions and conflicts in
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#17327733371808618-520: The act of putting the Leges into writing was already an act of synthesis with the Roman legal culture. The development of the different law codes shows a general trend away from an oral legal culture toward a text-based writing culture. It is unclear to what extent the written legal texts were used in court: whereas Patrick Wormald and many German scholars have argued that the Leges texts mostly existed for reasons of representation and prestige, other scholars, such as Rosamund McKitterick, have argued that
8757-482: The authority of the judge. Since the magistrate who had proclaimed the trial necessary was also the judge who presided over the trial, the verdict was quite often guilty. The main purpose of the trial was to give the defendant a chance to admit their guilt and repent. The theory behind the trial and punishment being very public was that they would serve to reinforce the rules of conduct and discourage others from acting out and breaking laws. The colonists soon realized that
8896-420: The basis of antique (Caesar and Tacitus), early medieval (mainly the so-called Leges Barbarorum , laws written by various continental Germanic peoples from the fifth to eighth centuries), and late medieval sources (mostly Scandinavian). According to these scholars, Germanic law was based on a society ruled by assemblies of free farmers (the things ), policing themselves in clan groups ( Sippes ), and engaging in
9035-493: The benefits of supporting rebel cause but they also could be repelled to join; as a result, the 1510s rebels attracted a lot of local bandits and outlaws as they moved from one place to another. Marauding was one of the most common peasant reactions to oppression and hardship. In early Republican China , the growth of warlord armies during the Warlord era was also accompanied by a dramatic increase in bandit activity exploiting
9174-401: The citizens themselves. The Roman Empire had a reasonably effective law enforcement system until the decline of the empire, though there was never an actual police force in the city of Rome. When under the reign of Augustus the capital had grown to almost one million inhabitants, he created 14 wards , which were protected by seven squads of 1,000 men. If necessary, they might have called on
9313-417: The city, making sure to look for fires, suspicious individuals, or possible riots. This was a collective responsibility, but few were willing to serve. Certain cities imposed fines on those who refused. The night watch, though relatively effective, only served during the night. During the day, the responsibility of protecting innocent citizens and apprehending criminals fell to the constables and marshals. Soon
9452-557: The civil administration of their " prefecture ", or jurisdiction. Prefects usually reported to the local magistrate, just as modern police report to judges. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement of the area. Some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives . Eventually the concept of the "prefecture system" would spread to other cultures such as Korea and Japan. Law enforcement in Ancient China
9591-482: The claim of shared descent, Wenskus also saw the individual gentes as having and developing their own legal orders. Almost all gentes that became post-Roman polities adopted their own law, and the individual Leges , as well as other early medieval sources, mention that the laws belong to individual "people" under various Latin terms (including populus , natio , gens ). However, disagreement exists about whether these written sources are still part of
9730-564: The cognates of Old High German sibba and kunni , found in this meaning in all Germanic languages. According to the traditional understanding of Germanic law, the clan contained all blood relations and was essential for the protection and help of the individual. Individuals were argued to have no relation to the larger tribal state outside of the clan. It aided him in seeking revenge (see feuding ), receiving wergild for those who were slain or injured (see compensatory justice ), and acted as oath helpers. Current scholarship acknowledges
9869-498: The community. In addition to hearing the disputes of the local colonists, the courts also held the responsibilities of the legislature, executive, and judicial branches of the county's government. These responsibilities illustrated the highly unspecialized nature of colonial government agencies. The courts became connected to an informal role in the county's social and economic life. Although some county courts were presided over by one judge, some consisted of ten to fifteen judges. However,
10008-764: The community. With such a workload, sheriffs were usually the most important political figures in the county and represented the governor and the English government. In the criminal justice system of the period, the sheriff acted as a reactive official. His job was to follow up on complaints or information of misconduct from the other citizens. He was paid through a system of fees rather than a set salary which came mostly from tax collecting. This discouraged many sheriffs from concentrating heavily on law enforcement. Such high powers often led to corruption in this field with embezzlement and other irregularities with tax collections and fees. Judges are also known as magistrates or justices of
10147-642: The compensation is referred to as wergild . Scholars debate if wergild was a traditional Germanic legal concept, or if it developed from a Roman predecessor . The various codes uniformly gradate compensations according to whether an individual was fully free, half free, or enslaved. Some also make distinctions by status among free persons, as with the Lex Burgundonum , while the Lex Salica shows no gradation among free males. The prices were sometimes higher than could readily be paid, which could result in
10286-613: The concept of police itself, was "disliked as a symbol of foreign oppression". Prior to the 19th century, the only official use of the word "police" recorded in the United Kingdom was the appointment of Commissioners of Police for Scotland in 1714 and the creation of the Marine Police in 1798 (set up to protect merchandise at the Port of London ). On June 30, 1800, the authorities of Glasgow , Scotland successfully petitioned
10425-477: The contemporary concept of a police paid by the government was developed by French legal scholars and practitioners in the 17th century and early 18th century, notably with Nicolas Delamare's Traité de la Police ("Treatise of the Police", published between 1705 and 1738). The German Polizeiwissenschaft (Science of Police) was also an important theoretical formulation of police. The first statutory police force
10564-533: The county commissioners for money. Just like other criminal justice positions with a lot of power, the jailer was often corrupt and was notoriously known for embezzling public funds, soliciting bribes from prisoners and their families, selling whiskey to the prisoners, and abusing the inmates. The gradual development of a sophisticated criminal justice system in America found itself extremely small and unspecialized during colonial times. Many problems, including lack of
10703-451: The course of the migration period. Scholars debate the origins of Germanic kingship. Tacitus makes a distinction existed between "kings" and "dukes", in that the kings were chosen because of their nobility and the dukes for their prowess in battle. This statement has been used to explain Germanic kingship as having had a sacral and a military component, which were later united. However, more recent scholarship has shown that sacral kingship
10842-422: The courts with many judges met very infrequently and this made it almost impossible to conduct any legal business in a fast and efficient way. The matter was even worse in the back country where there often was a complete lack of courts to settle any conflicts or perform governmental services. The legal process of trials in colonial America was quite different from the modern one in many ways. After an alleged crime
10981-449: The crime was responsible for instigating the prosecution and financing it. It was these fundamental principles that stuck with the colonists and were used selectively to create a new and unique criminal justice system. Many factors influenced the colonists’ selection process by which they constructed their approach to criminal justice. As previously mentioned, there were no professional legal experts and few law resources available. This left
11120-533: The criminal justice system in colonial America were similar to those in England, France, and the Dutch Republic . Gradually French and Dutch influences disappeared in the islands. What remained was the basic idea many had of the English common law system. This system was the best-known to 17th-century colonists. The common law system included a set of rules that were used to solve problems in society. It
11259-403: The criminals. They usually have thirty days to arrest the issued criminals. If officers have not capture their assigned criminals after thirty days or assigned deadline, they would subject to physical punishments. Successfully arresting criminals earns police officers promotions. However, this method was often subject to abuse in order to quickly earn promotions. Police officers were appointed by
11398-476: The development of agriculture, which led to more closely populated cities and cultures and behavior to address fears of persons taking advantage of or causing harm to others, more formal systems of punishment for crimes developed, independently around the world, or based upon other cultures, including those developed in the early Babylonian laws of Hammurabi and the Hammurabic Code . A police force called
11537-399: The different early codes which point to shared legal traditions. Modern scholarship no longer posits a common Germanic marriage practice, and there is no common Germanic term for "marriage". Until the latter 20th century, legal historians, using the Leges and later Norse narrative and legal sources, divided Germanic marriages into three types: According to this theory, in the course of
11676-467: The earlier Germanic peoples is mentioned by Tacitus in Germania chap. 12 and 21, including the various steps taken for conflict resolution. The post-Roman Barbarian kingdoms appear to have seen an increase in non-state violence and violent deaths with the decline in central authority. The various Leges show attempts to limit the practice in feuding, without, however, ultimately preventing it. All of
11815-523: The earliest law codes, those of the Goths and Burgundians, were meant for all persons in their territory or only those of a particular ethnicity. The Lex Salica is far clearer in making ethnic distinctions in the text, perhaps encouraging assimilation to Frankish identity. By the Carolingian period, confusion between social status and ethnicity on the one hand and between ethnic and territorial law on
11954-876: The early Burgundian, Alemannic, Bavarian, and Kentish law codes and therefore cannot have a pan-Germanic origin. Heinz Holzhauer instead argues that ordeal by fire and water was a common Germanic, pre-Christian method of trial, which he connects to the casting of lots found in Tacitus. History of criminal justice#Ancient China Throughout the history of criminal justice , evolving forms of punishment , added rights for offenders and victims, and policing reforms have reflected changing customs , political ideals, and economic conditions. Primates often have notions of fairness and sharing, with violations punished by exclusion or banishment from social groups. In human history, prior to agriculture, more nomadic cultures had systems of punishment for behavior or resistance. With
12093-469: The early Middle Ages and that only "vernacular" terminology was "legally precise enough to convey what barbarian practice meant". The study of "Germanic Law" arose in the modern period, at a time when scholars thought that the written and unwritten principles of the ancient Germanic peoples could be reconstructed in a reasonably coherent form. Beginning in the Reformation , the study of "Germanic law"
12232-482: The early colonial period, prisons were not yet a major staple in the criminal justice system. They were used mainly for holding people who were awaiting trial rather than punishment. The early jails resembled ordinary houses in many aspects and had no distinctive architectural features. Prisoners were placed in rooms instead of cells and were not classified or segregated in any way. Men, women, and juveniles were mixed together causing many problems. Overcrowding soon became
12371-943: The entire free population. The Visigothic laws lack any mention of a popular assembly, while the Anglo-Saxon laws and history show no evidence of any kingdom-wide popular assemblies, only smaller local or regional assemblies held under various names. Germanic languages attest many different terms that mean king, including þiudans , truhtin and cuning . Terms for Germanic rulers in Roman sources include reges ("kings"), principes ("chieftains"), and duces ("leaders/dukes") - however, all of these terms are foreign ascriptions rather than necessarily reflecting native terminology. Stefanie Dick suggests that these terms are not used with any real differentiation in Roman sources and should all be translated as "leaders". Not all Germanic peoples are attested as having had kings, and different kings seem to have different functions and roles. Peoples without kings included at various times
12510-446: The existence of clan groups as a social factor among the Germanic peoples, but argues that there was never an organized, legally recognized clan organization as postulated by older scholarship. Both Germanic terms and those found in the Leges for kinship groups are not precise enough to indicate that the clans existed as legal entities: instead, the group of "relations" that a person could call on were not fixed or stable. The feud (in
12649-463: The first uniformed policemen in the world. In London , there existed watchmen hired to guard the streets at night since 1663. Watchmen were the first paid law enforcement in the country, augmenting the force of unpaid constables, but were not professionally organized. The word "police" was borrowed from French into the English language in the 18th century, but for a long time it applied only to French and continental European police forces. The word, and
12788-779: The five years before his death in 1590, but there were reputedly 27,000 more at liberty throughout Central Italy . Banditry or brigandry , while existing in Italy since pre-historic times, became particularly widespread in Southern Italy following the Unification of Italy in the 1860s. Brigands such as Carmine Crocco , Michelina Di Cesare , Ninco Nanco , and Nicola Napolitano were active during this period and eventually developed followings as folk heroes . Brigandage in Southern Italy continued sporadically following
12927-413: The government's ability to punish bandits. Tong concludes that his "rational choice model predicts that there would be more rebellions and banditry where the likelihood of surviving hardship is minimal but the likelihood of surviving as an outlaw is maximal." As a result, Tong finds that banditry, like other types of collective violence, had a spatial and temporal pattern. Banditry was especially pervasive in
13066-530: The head officials from the populations. These selected officers, however, were not recognized as part of the magistrates for they were merely runners. Approximately one out of four court cases featured corrupted officers who accepted bribes to ignore certain crimes, or sometimes even assisted the criminals. Officers often focused on building a social network which might include criminals instead of making examples by preventing crimes. Criminal justice in Songhai
13205-401: The hearing the accused was usually free to leave until the trial without bail. Just as in the interrogation, there was no defense attorney present at the trial and the proceedings moved quickly as each witness testified against the defendant. However, a district attorney, who was often appointed by the governor and assigned to a certain district or county, usually handled the prosecution. Unlike
13344-413: The jail at night. Other prisoners included the homeless, unemployed, or impoverished. They were expected to learn good work ethic during their stay. The financial arrangements of the jailer were similar to those of the sheriff, especially since the same person usually held both jobs. He was paid by the county through a system of fees. Specific items such as food, clothing, and other things were submitted to
13483-459: The law as unchanging, and it was thus necessary to find the law in any individual case. Laws existed because they were traditional and because similar cases had been decided before. This is clearly displayed in the prologue of the Lex Salica , in which four men are described as having ascertained what the law was rather than creating it. Most of the Leges refer to having been composed through
13622-591: The lawlessness. By 1930, the total bandit population was estimated to be 20 million. Germanic law Germanic law is a scholarly term used to describe a series of commonalities between the various law codes (the Leges Barbarorum , 'laws of the barbarians', also called Leges ) of the early Germanic peoples . These were compared with statements in Tacitus and Caesar as well as with high and late medieval law codes from Germany and Scandinavia. Until
13761-531: The leadership of Liu Brothers, Tiger Yang raided and plundered Shandong and Henan. Their illegal actions eventually evolved into open rebellion against the Ming Dynasty as they blatantly besieged cities, seized imperial weaponry, extended area of operation southward, and even assumed rhetoric and attire of an imperial dynasty. The rebellion took the Ming almost two years to crush. Similarly, small groups of local bandits could also end up joining larger groups of rebels. Robinson points out that bandits obviously perceived
13900-654: The legal importance of kinship groups, retinues, and loyalty, and the concept of outlawry, can no longer be justified. Besides the assumption of a common Germanic legal tradition and the use of sources of different types from different places and time periods, there are no known native sources for early Germanic law. Caesar and Tacitus do mention some aspects of Germanic legal culture that reappear in later sources, however their texts are not objective reports of facts and there are no other antique sources to corroborate whether there were common Germanic institutions. Reinhard Wenskus has shown that one important "Germanic" element,
14039-405: The mayor appointed a high constable and several lesser constables and marshals to help him. Those holding such positions had powers similar to those of the sheriff. To protect their citizens during the night, many counties established a night watch, an institution of criminal justice originally inherited from Europe. The night watch consisted of a group of civilians who patrolled and kept watch over
14178-486: The means of protection against criminality. Publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police in Ancient Greece. In Athens , a group of 300 Scythian slaves was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control , and also assisted with dealing with criminals , manhandling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to
14317-436: The modern sense. The assembly stood under the protection of the gods, and feuding parties could visit it without fear of violence. The use of thing as an epithet in a 3rd-century AD inscription dedicated to " Mars Thingsus ", apparently referring to the Germanic god Tyr , as well as the translation of the Roman dies Martii ("day of Mars ", Tuesday) as dingsdag ("day of the thing ", modern German Dienstag ) as
14456-468: The new or full moon and were where important decisions were made (Tacitus, Germania 11–13). Germanic assemblies functioned both to make important political decisions—or to legitimate decisions taken by rulers—as well as functioning as courts of law. In their earliest function as courts, the assemblies do not appear to have had presiding judges. Rather, the members collectively came to judgments based on consensus and acted more as arbiters than as courts in
14595-513: The number of surviving manuscripts and physical indications of their frequent use means that they were in fact employed in practice. Germanic legal vocabulary is reconstructed from multiple sources, including early loanwords in Finnic languages , supposed translations of Germanic terms in Tacitus, apparently legal terms in the Gothic Bible , elements in Germanic names, Germanic words found in
14734-440: The other had essentially turned the system into one of "mobile territorial law", in which a person could claim the law of their territory of birth. In common with many archaic societies without a strong monarchy, early Germanic law appears to have had a form of popular assembly. The earliest attested term for these assemblies in Germanic is the thing . According to Tacitus, during the Roman period, such assemblies were called at
14873-441: The peace. Even though a judge held very influential positions in their counties, they were far from the professionals that they are today. They were usually religious or political leaders. The county judge was in charge of the court for the area he presided in and vehemently believed their role in society was to enforce God's will. Their understanding of God's will usually caused colonial justices to seek confessions and repentance from
15012-402: The police had an economical and social duty ("procuring abundance"). It was in charge of demographics concerns and of empowering the population , which was considered by the mercantilist theory to be the main strength of the state . Thus, its functions largely overreached simple law enforcement activities, and included public health concerns, urban planning (which was important because of
15151-648: The present day. Many of the Commonwealth countries developed police forces using similar models, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In North America, the Toronto Police was founded in Canada in 1834, one of the first municipal police departments on that continent, followed by police forces in Montreal and Quebec City both founded in 1838. In the United States, the first organized police service
15290-548: The product of a mixture of Germanic, late Roman, and early Christian legal cultures. Generally speaking, the further on the periphery of the Roman Empire these law codes were issued, the less influence they appear to show from Roman jurisprudence. Thus, Dusil, Kannowski, and Schwedler argue that the Visigothic law codes show a great deal of Roman influence, whereas the Lex Salica shows basically none. The earliest of
15429-483: The prosecutors in England, who worked privately and for a payment from the victim, the district attorneys of colonial America handled the prosecution in almost all trials. The district attorney's position soon became one of the most important political position in county government because they often had to be elected. The role of the defense attorney was minuscule, if not unheard of, in the colonial period. This stemmed from an English legal tradition of severely restricting
15568-579: The regime, serving as local police forces and personal soldiers employed by officials to secure order and suppress bandits. Such transition was not permanent and could often be reversed. Tiger Yang once served as a personal military retainer of the aforementioned Ning Gao before turning to banditry; similarly, when facing unemployment, some of Ning's former "bandit catchers" simply joined the bandit leaders Liu Brothers. The career of banditry often led leaders to assemble more bandits and army deserters and organize predatory gangs into active rebel groups. One example
15707-527: The reign of Amenemhat I (1991 BC – 1962 BC) the role of professional judges were established and employed to decide court cases. The police force was specifically focused on law enforcement, while a newly created standing military was utilized to fulfill the police's other, previous tasks. Law enforcement in Ancient China was carried out by "prefects". The notion of a "prefect" in China has existed for thousands of years. The prefecture system developed in both
15846-448: The relation of crime to sin and sin to crime. Adding to the religious factor, the colonists held individual liberty in high regard. This later influenced more contemporary criminal codes. Besides being one of the most important criminal justice officials of the colonial period in America, the county sheriff had other responsibilities. These included collecting taxes, running and supervising elections, and handling any other legal business in
15985-482: The riot act to the assembled crowd. Depending on the crimes that the colonists committed, there were plenty of punishments to choose from. Most of the punishments were public, where heavy use of shame and shaming was included. Through the method of shaming, the criminal justice system meant more to teach a lesson than simply punish the offender. The "criminal" was almost always male. However, punishment for such crimes as witchcraft, infanticide, and adultery fell heavily on
16124-462: The role of the defense to challenging or question narrow points of the law. In time the American practice of trials allowed a greater and more vigorous role to the defense of the accused. However, at that current time there were few trained lawyers to begin with and most defendants could not afford one. Juries were also not used at that time and those who requested them were thought to be challenging
16263-488: The southern provinces (most notably Guangdong and Fujian) and the second half of the dynasty (1506-1644). However, the Northern China and the middle Ming period (1450–1525) had their fair share of banditry. Mounted banditry was the major and pervasive type of banditry plaguing roads around the capital Beijing and its surrounding areas, administrated and named as the Capital Region. Xiangmazei (whistling arrow bandits)
16402-606: The stolen livestock linked" towns in the Capital Region to nearby provinces. The career nor the identity of a bandit was permanent. Some bandits actually had a settled life and were even married. Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty relates that the great bandit Zhang Mao lived in a big mansion in his hometown Wenan. Similarly, Zhang's comrades Liu Brothers and Tiger Yang had wives and children. Bandits often operated in groups under one or more leaders. These charismatic leaders were not only skilled in fighting and riding but also possessed material and social capital. One exemplary leader
16541-457: The time prior to Germanic contact with the Romans. Unlike for the trial by combat, scholars debate whether the trials by fire and water were inspired by Christianity or derive from pre-Christian Germanic tradition. Robert Bartlett argues for a Frankish origin of the practice of trial by fire and water, with Frankish influence spreading it around Europe. He argues that the practice is absent in
16680-543: The use of popular assemblies, displays marked similarities to developments among the Gauls and Romans, and was therefore likely the result of external influence rather than specifically Germanic. Even the Leges Barbarorum were all written under Roman and Christian influence and often with the help of Roman jurists. Beginning with Walter Goffart , scholars have argued the Leges contain large amounts of "Vulgar Latin law", an unofficial legal system that they argue functioned in
16819-614: The women. In addition, much of the blame and punishment for crimes was attributed to those in the lowest rank in society. Whipping was the most commonly used form of punishment, especially in the American South with slaves. Other frequently used punishments included branding, cutting off ears, and placing people in the pillory . These punishments were sometimes harsher, depending on the crimes committed. In Colonial America, executions were less common than in Europe. However, when such
16958-554: Was Gao Yingxiang, who started as a mounted bandit in Shaanxi and later became an important rebel leader in late Ming. Another example would be Deng Maoqi, a bandit in Fujian who perpetrated robbery on roads and in villages in the late 1440s. His gang of bandits eventually grew into a rebel army and Deng conducted attacks on the government in Fujian. Bandit-rebels were not only common in late Ming. In 1510 and 1511, several bandit gangs under
17097-408: Was Zhang Mao of Wenan. He had assembled a massive following and by using his connection and wealth, he managed to bribe and befriend important eunuchs in the court. Of course, the Ming government used a heavy hand to crack down on banditry. Local commanders and constables were responsible for apprehending bandits, but the emperors often dispatched special censors to cope with rampant banditry. Ning Gao
17236-606: Was a category of mounted bandits named after their practice of firing whistling arrows to alert their victims. Whistling arrow bandits had troubled the Capital Region throughout the first three decades of the sixteenth century. They had posed such serious threat that special police attention was given to them and failure to arrest them on time incurred severer punishment (further information on Ming justice system can be found in History of criminal justice ). Ming historian David M. Robinson identifies some prominent causes of banditry in
17375-512: Was a private system of tithings , since the Norman conquest led by a constable , which was based on a social obligation for the good conduct of the others; more common was that local lords and nobles were responsible to maintain order in their lands, and often appointed a constable , sometimes unpaid, to enforce the law. When early colonists first came to America, they did not include trained lawyers or other law-knowledgeable persons. Many parts of
17514-548: Was also relatively progressive, allowing for female prefects. Some examples of ancient Chinese prefects include: Chong Fu, prefect of the Ying District in the East Han Dynasty, and Ching Chow, prefect of the modern Shang-tung Province. An example of a female prefect would be Lady Qu of Wuding (serving 1531 – c. 1557). In ancient China, when minor judicial incidents such as robberies occur, the client reports to
17653-866: Was an inevitable byproduct of the faults of the development of justice in America. Religion, especially early on in the colonial period, exerted a strong influence on law making. Legal codes, such as the 1648 Book of the General Laws and Liberties of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, contained very strong biblical references, more so than did the ones in England. Although this religious impact was felt most strongly in Puritan colonies, similar ideas were evident among other colonists as well. Many colonial makeshift criminal codes considered lying, idleness, drunkenness, certain sexual offenses, and even bad behavior to be crimes. These moralistic crimes stemmed from
17792-595: Was based mainly, if not entirely, on Islamic principles, especially during the rule of Askia Muhammad. The local qadis were, in addition to this, responsible for maintaining order by following Sharia law under Islamic domination, according to the Qur'an . An additional qadi was noted as a necessity to settle minor disputes between immigrant merchants. Kings usually did not judge a defendant; however, under exceptional circumstances, such as acts of treason, they felt obligated to do so and thus exerted their authority. Results of
17931-476: Was based on the history of decisions previous judges had made instead of lawmaking codes or laws. This system made a distinction between two basic types of crimes: felonies and misdemeanors . The legal process, mostly for more serious crimes, involved a grand jury, composed of members of the community, which decided whether there was enough evidence for prosecution. However, in these proceedings no district attorneys or public prosecutors were available. The victim of
18070-448: Was defined by the Ming government as “‘robbery by force’ punishable by death.” But throughout the dynasty, people had entered into the occupation of banditry for various reasons and the occupation of banditry was fluid and temporary. Ming China was largely an agricultural society and contemporary observers remarked that famine and subsequent hardship often gave rise to banditry. In his 1991 book Disorder under Heaven: Collective Violence in
18209-547: Was encouraged by the kings of the individual Germanic kingdoms, who had an interest in preventing bloodshed. Some of the laws, such as the Lex Salica and the Lex Thuringiorum , require that part of the compensation for theft be paid to the king. Later, some kings attempted to replace the compensation system with other forms of justice, such as the death penalty. Scholarship had emphasized the variety of compensations for various offenses and taken this as an indication of
18348-428: Was held by Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie , who had 44 commissaires de police (police commissioners) under his authority. In 1709, these commissioners were assisted by inspecteurs de police (police inspectors). The city of Paris was divided into 16 districts policed by the 44 commissaires de police , each assigned to a particular district and assisted in their districts by clerks and a growing bureaucracy. The scheme of
18487-640: Was just another way to escape impoverishment; and when a group of eunuchs failed to find employment in the palace, they often turned to mob violence. The Capital Region also housed a huge number of soldiers with Ming's system of hereditary military and a major portion of bandits were actually soldiers stationed in the region. In 1449, Mongolian soldiers in the service of Ming attacked and plundered Beijing area. Another report of 1489 attested that soldiers had raided in Henan province. Robinson points out that "dire economic straits" forced soldiers to use illegal means to make
18626-510: Was neither reasonable nor an efficient use of resources. In addition, colonial communities rarely had enough extra money to build a prison and feed prisoners. Since probation was not yet known to the colonists, they used a system of nods to guarantee troublemakers would not cause any problems. Courts began to require many problem-causing people to put up money to make sure they would stay out of trouble. This system worked especially well in communities where everyone minded each other's business. In
18765-424: Was one of the censors of 1509, and he employed gruesome means such as display of severed heads and body parts to kill off existing bandits and to intimidate potential ones. Other than escaping to difficult terrains, powerful bandits used their connections with high-standing figures in the capital to negotiate safety. In one occasion, the influential eunuch Zhang Zhong helped his sworn brother Zhang Mao to negotiate with
18904-543: Was passed by Parliament, allowing Sir Robert Peel , the then home secretary , to found the London Metropolitan Police . Based on the Peelian principles , this was the city's first full-time, professional and centrally-organised police force. The Metropolitan Police officers were often referred to as ´Bobbies´ after Sir Robert (Bobby) Peel. They are regarded as the first modern police force and became
19043-464: Was reported, a magistrate, or judge, would consider the presented evidence and decide whether it was a true crime. If the magistrate decided that a crime was indeed committed the accused was apprehended and brought to be questioned by the magistrate. The interrogation was usually held in the magistrate's own house with a few marshals or deputies as witnesses. However, during this step in the procedure, no lawyers were involved on behalf of either party. After
19182-487: Was slain. The primary form of state-administered punishment during ancient times and the Middle Ages was banishment or exile . Though a prison, Le Stinche , existed as early as the 14th century in Florence , incarceration was not widely used until the 19th century. Rather, it was used to detain prisoners before trial or for imprisoning people without judicial process. The Anglo-Saxon system of maintaining public order
19321-574: Was typically conflated with "German law", a tradition continued by influential scholars Jacob Grimm , Karl von Amira , and Heinrich Brunner . This law supposedly revealed the national character of the Germans. Until the middle of the 20th century, the majority of scholars assumed the existence of a distinct Germanic legal culture and law. This law was seen as an essential element in the formation of modern European law and identity, alongside Roman and canon law . Scholars reconstructed Germanic law on
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