Trial by Combat

"All the authorities on the subject, I believe, are collected in this excellent book." Sir Frederick Pollock, The Genius of the Common Law

Although it is not known exactly when trial by combat, battle, or duel began as a method of conflict resolution, its origin certainly goes back before the feudal era. Neilson focuses on Britain and Scotland and traces this tradition from before the Middle Ages to the Appeal of Murder Act of 1819.

CONTENTS

PART I. PRELIMINARY: EUROPE
1. Before the Middle Ages
2. King Gundobald, A.D. 501
3. Mode of Battle
4. Among the Norsemen
5. The Church
6. Decadence and Extinction

PART II. ORIGIN IN BRITAIN
7. A Question Stated
8. Norse Evidence
9. English and Scotch Evidence
10. The Question Answered

PART III. ENGLAND, 1066-1300: LAW
11. Legal Outline
12. Sketch of Procedure
13. The Duel in Finance
14. The Approver
15. The Champion
16. Some Churchmen's Champions
17. Another Champion's Contract
18. Three Early Duels, A.D. 1096-1163
19. A Hibernian Hero
20. Charters and Charter Stories
21. An Incident, A.D. 1267
22. Reactionary Signs
23. Review and Prospect

PART IV. SCOTLAND TILL 1300: LAW
24. In Early Scotland
25. Under David the First
26. Under William the Lion
27. Writ of Right
28. The Battle
29. An Argument
30. Exemptions from Duel
31. Regiam Majestâtem
32. In the Regiam
33. Crime in the Regiam
34. Under Alexander II and after
35. The Duel Described
36. March Law
37. 'The Lawis of Merchis,' A.D. 1249
38. Recorded Duels from 1155
39. A Great Trial, A.D. 1242
40. Merse and Kyle, A.D. 1264-66.
41. Baron Courts of the Bruces, A.D. 1292
42. By 1300

PART V. ENGLAND, 1300-1603: LAW AND CHIVALRY
Section First - THE DUEL OF LAW
43. Continued Decline after 1300
4. The Prior of Tynemouth's Champion
45. Magic, A.D. 1355
46. The Last Approver's Duel, A.D. 1456
47. An Elizabethan Scene, A.D. 1571
Section Second-THE DUEL OF CHIVALRY
48. A French Edict, A.D. 1306
49. The Rise of Chivalry
50. Precedents, A.D. 1350-52
51. Transmarine Treason, A.D. 1380-84
52. The Court of Chivalry
53. In Chaucer
54. A Contrast and Conclusion
55. Richard II
56. A Royal Jest, A.D. 1399
57. Some Treason-Duels
58. The end of Chivalry
59. A Summary with an Exception

PART VI. SCOTLAND, 1300-1603: CHIVALRY
60. Before Bannockburn
61. Before Halidon Hill
62. The Law and Custom in 1354
63. Three half-told Stories, 1362-95
64. Border Duels till 1396
65. 'Vegetius' in Scotland
66. 'The Maner of Battale'
67. International Tilting
68. A New Conclusion
69. Precedents for the Inch of Perth
70. Preliminaries - Inch of Perth
71. The Inch of Perth, A.D. 1396
72. Facts and Suppositions, 1398-1412
73. On 'The Order of Combats'
74. 'The Order of Combats'
75. The Scottish Court of Chivalry
76. Stray Duels, A.D. 1426-56
77 In Parliament and Burgh Court
78. Note on the Passing of Chivalry
79. Pitscottie's Dutc