Battel
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Trial by combat. It was called also "wager of battel" or "battaile,'' and could be claimed in appeals of felony. It was of frequent use in affairs of chivalry and honor, and in civil cases upon certain issues.
Co. Litt. § 294.
It was not abolished in England till the enactment of St. 59 Geo. III. c.
46. See 1 Barn. & Aid.. 405; 3 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 339; 4 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 347.
See "Appeal." This mode of trial was not peculiar to England. The emperor Otho, A. D. 983, held a diet at Verona, at which several to put a stop to the frequent perjuries in judicial trials, this diet substituted in all cases, even in those which followed the course of the Roman law, proof by combat for proof by oath. Henrion de Pansey, Auth. Judic. Introd. c.
3.
And for a detailed account of this mode of trial, see Herbert, Inns of Court, 119-1145.