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Indiana University Studies 
ordeal by fire, or the “accursed morsel”. In the ordeal by fire 
one had either to grasp a red-hot iron, or to walk bare-foot 
over burning ploughshares. The scarred and blistered mem- 
bers were then bound up by a priest with consecrated oint- 
ment. If the scars were healed at the end of three days the 
sufferer was innocent. If not, he was guilty. The ordeal by 
water was of two forms: hot water and cold water. In the 
case of hot water the accused plunged his arm into boiling 
water, and thereafter was treated as in the case of the ordeal 
by fire. In the case of cold water, the accused was tied hand 
and foot and was thrown into a pond or river. If he floated 
he was guilty; if not, he was innocent. In the case of the 
accursed morsel, the accused, after calling upon the Deity to 
make the bread stick in his throat if he was guilty, proceeded 
to eat the morsel slowly. If he swallowed it freely he was 
innocent ; but if he choked in any way he was guilty. 
The above scheme for the regulation of vengeance was an 
effort to preserve the peace by giving to the accused a few 
capacities to influence the conduct of the avenger, and by giv- 
ing him the right to a formal dramatized procedure, like com- 
purgation and ordeal, administered by the thegns, or wise 
men, who applied the tariffs and the law they could remember 
(custom and Roman law), in the hundreds and county courts. 
But, with the possible exception of a little criminal law, it went 
no farther than voluntary acquiescence on the part of the con- 
victed accused, and if this failed society went back to venge- 
ance and self-help. There was no execution of the decision. 
Yet thruout Anglo-Saxon history there was a growth in law, 
even if it was only a growth in the regulation of vengeance. 
As we have seen, it developed some substantive law and a 
great deal of legal procedure. Just as the law of wrongs was 
not classified, so the law of procedure was not. There was 
procedure, but procedure was not divided into pleading, evi- 
dence, and practice. There were no rules of pleading in the 
sense in which that term is understood, and there were no 
rules of evidence, yet the summoning of the attesting wit- 
nesses, the quantitative effect of the oath, the conclusiveness 
of seal, and the production of the original document gave cer- 
tain evidential effects. Such was the Anglo-Saxon customary 
law, but this it was which was destined in time to be made over 
into the common law of England and the United States. 
