The origins of reasonable doubt: theological roots of the criminal trial / James Q. Whitman.

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 2008.

62118

Burden of proof -- History -- Europe.

Evidence, Criminal -- History -- Europe.

Religion and law -- History -- Europe.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Of factual proof and moral comfort

The Christian judge and the taint of blood: the theology of killing in war and law

The decline of the judicial ordeal: from god as witness to man as witness

Salvation for the judge, damnation for the witnesses: the continent

Salvation for the judge, damnation for the jury: England

The crises of the seventeenth century

The eighteenth century: the rule emerges.

James Q. Whitman traces the history of the law and discovers that reasonable doubt was not originally a legal rule, but a theological one, concerned with the protection of the souls of jurors.

Table of contents and index are taken from the published work with the permission of the publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9780300116007

ix, 276 p. : ill. ; 24 cm