Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Ducking-Stool

Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia · John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914

Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

A stool or chair in which common scolds were formerly tied and plunged into water. The ducking-stool is mentioned in the Domesday Book; it was extensively in use throughout Great Britain from the fifteenth till the beginning of the eighteenth century. Cent. Diet. The last recorded instance in England was in 1809. See Castigatory; Punishment.