反思“上帝的审判”——评巴特莱特的《中世纪神判》

从古代至近代,神判为世界上许多不同地区的民族所使用,主要是在穷尽其他证明方法无法证明案件事实、法官对事实存在与否不能达到确信状态时,作为最后的救济。巴特莱特的《中世纪神判》一书是迄今有关神判的第一部系统的专著,该书描述了神判在欧洲自最早出现于蛮族法典时、经基督教社会、至近代欧美国家捉巫时期一千多年的历史。作者对中世纪欧洲的神判洞察深刻,分析到位,对于神判的起源、传播、运作、功能、规则、类型、终结以及替代性制度进行了有说服力的论述,尤其讨论了13世纪前后神判的终结及其原因,批判了史学界有关神判运作及衰落的理论,提出了新的见解。但该书也存在一些不足,本文从三方面作了批评。

Introspection of "the Judgment of the God"——Review on the Devine Judgment in the Middle Ages by Bartlett

From ancient to modern times,the doctrine of divine judgment had been applied by many nations in different countries as the last resort when other proof approaches had been exhausted used to prove the case facts and consequently the judge could not determine whether or not the facts were convincible.The Devine Judgment in the Middle Ages written by Bartlett is up till now the first systematic monograph concerning the divine judgment,in which it illustrates the divine judgment in Europe covering the history of more than a thousand years originated from the code of savage tribe,the experiencing the Christian society till the witch capturing period in modern European and American countries.Based on the piercing insight and appropriate analysis,the author has offered a convincing assertion on the doctrine of the divine judgment in the Middle Ages of Europe concerning such subjects as the origin,promulgation,operation,function,regulation,patterns,termination and substitute system,with the highlight focusing on the termination and its cause of the divine judgment around the thirteenth century.Moreover,the author criticized the theory supported by historians concerning the operation and waning of the divine judgment and furnished innovated suggestions.However,in the light of some imperfections in this book,this Paper will do a critical comment from the following three aspects.