Our right to a fair trial is the basis of Belgrade law firm and all legal systems in the civilized world and has its origins in the famous Magna Carta from 1215.
Over the years and centuries, human rights continued to grow and develop, and some of the following major events were the sparks of those changes.
Trial by ordeal – 1215.
In most of Europe before the Magna Carta, a rather cruel and barbaric system of justice was in force. Between the 19th and 13th centuries, the guilt or innocence of the suspect was determined by fire or water. Suspects were either burnt with hot metal or tied up and thrown into water. It was up to God to decide who was guilty and who was not and to spare the innocent accordingly.
Although extremely harsh, this trial was considered very effective for these superstitious times, as most suspects rather pleaded guilty than end up on trial. This „judicial practice“ was supervised by the church, until the Pope Innocent III banned it in 1215.
Torture justice – 1640.
Suspects of various crimes were threatened with trial by torture until the middle of the 17th century. From 1540. until the abolition of this type of trial, 81 warrants for torture were issued in England alone. In order to extract information or a confession from the suspects, they were tied and stretched on the notorious rack.
This judicial practice lasted until May 1640 and the trial of John Archer, who was accused of high treason and who was arrested during the rebellion. Jack remained silent and, apart from his exceptional tolerance for pain and torture, he was remembered in world history as the last martyr on the rack.
Verdict or starvation – 1670.
Today, we take it for granted that a jury should be left to decide on a verdict of their own and when they think it’s time for a verdict. But this was not always the case.
In 1670, while the state was banning nonconformist religions, a brave jury refused to deliver the guilty verdict expected by both the judge and the public. The jury in the trial of William Penn and William Mead was immediately locked up in one of the England’s worst jail, in order to reconsider their initial decision. After juror Edward Bushell, in his prison cell, sought a writ of habeas corpus from Chief Justice Sir John Vaughan, a law guaranteeing the future independence of juries was passed.
Mistaken identity case – 1896.
The weird case of a Norwegian shipbroker accused of a series of scams against women has led to another turning point in criminal law. Despite claims of innocence, Adolf Beck was tried in 1896. and 1904. and convicted of fraud both times. In both cases, he was identified by his alleged victims.
It took him five imprisoned years to prove that he was circumcised and that he was in Peru at the time of the crimes he was accused of. Only then did the court establish his innocence and issued a pardon. However, this sacrifice was not in vain, since his case led to the establishment of the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Take your stand – 1907.
In December 1907. one brilliant defense attorney took a bold gamble and put his client into the witness box – a practice that has never been seen before.
Defendants had enjoyed the legal right to testify under oath since 1898, but it was considered imprudent or reckless to allow them to do so. Lawyer Edward Marshall Hall decided to stir things up and brought his client, who was facing the death penalty for the murder of a prostitute, as a witness. A certain artist Robert Wood charmed the judges and the jury, after which he was unanimously found not guilty.
Ladies of the law – 1920.
The key roles in the criminal justice system were held exclusively by men until the end of the First World War – of course with the exception of the accused.
The first women jurors were sworn in at Bristol Quarter Sessions on 29 July 1920, where they heard evidence in the case against William Henry Ayton, 52, who was accused of stealing a parcel at Weston-super-Mare station. In 1949, Rose Heilbronn and Helena Normanton became the first female barristers in Great Britain, and in 1972 Dame Rose became the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey.
Innocent until proven guilty – 1935.
When Reginald Woolmington shot and killed his wife in November 1935, he had no idea that he would change legal history forever.
At his trial the following year, 21-year-old Reginald claimed that the gun had gone off by mistake and that he had not intended to injure his wife. When the judge ruled that it was up to the defendant to prove that the shooting was accidental, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death. However, three days before the execution, the House of Lords ruled that the accused were presumed innocent until proven guilty, and Woolmington went free.
