Rack
Defined in 5 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Anderson (1889)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
An engine with which to torture a supposed criminal, in order to extort a confession of his supposed crime, and the names of his' supposed accomplices. It is unknown in the United States, but, known by the nickname of the "Duke of Exeter's Daughter," was in use in England. Barr. Obs. St. 366; 12 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 227.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
An engine with which to torture a supposed criminal, in order to extort a confession of his supposed crime and the names of his supposed accomplices.
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
A Dictionary of Law
William C. Anderson · 1889
An engine of torture, consisting of a large fi'ame upon which the body of a person could be gradually stretched until the joints became dislocated.* Was used^for extorting confessions from convicts and suspected persons.* Trial by rack is unknown to the law of England. Certain ministers of Henry IV, as a beginning to the introduction of the civil law into the kingdom, erected a rack of torture in the Tower of London; and this was used as an engine of state, not of law, more than once in the reign of Elizabeth. When, however, upon the assassination of Villiers by Felton, it was proposed to put the assassin to the rack to discover who his accomplices were, the judges decided that the proceeding was not allowable. ° 1 [Bridgewater o. Plymouth, 97 Mass. 390 (1867),, Foster, J. 2 See 1 Steph. Com. CST. s Wilder v. De Cou, 20 Minn. 17 (1879). * Webster's Diet.