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Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 2, chapter 30 (search)
The age of war among civilized nations has passed, and each year of peace is an additional testimony to this truth. Thus far in history nations have been towards each other as individuals in the earlier ages, when the trial by battle was a common mode of determining disputes. If a question arose with regard to the title to a piece of land, it was determined, not by a judicial tribunal as in our days of civilization, but by wager of battle, the forms of which are minutely described by Blackstone as a part of the early English law. He discussed the Trial by Battle at length in his oration on The True Grandeur of Nations. Works, Vol. I. pp. 36-45. As the folly and injustice of this proceeding became apparent, men resorted to courts and listened to the judgments of judges. So is the progress of nations. The trial by battle begins to be recognized as unnatural, barbarous, inconclusive, and unjust; and nations, as individuals, seek the judgments of tribunals or authorities prope