Medieval Comparative Essay - Recent 40 min essay. If you can bother correcting, I would appreciate it.
“Justice is the truth in action”, and its significance will not fade with time. However in modern Australia, justice is carried out differently to how it would of been in medieval England, hundreds of years ago. Crimes, trials and punishments have changed significantly from the view of humanity, however many miniature details still remain with us.
Crimes can exist in many forms, but many deeds that were considered ‘crimes’ in medieval England, are nothing abnormal now. In medieval England it was extremely easy to commit a crime. Lesser crimes included not working hard enough, gossiping, ‘witchcraft’, adultery (cheating), heresy, being drunk and petty theft. More grievous crimes constituted of murder, rape and high treason (Prezi 2014). Likewise, these crimes are still considered iniquitous today. On the contrary, most of the lesser crimes in medieval England currently aren’t regarded as felony, but are still despised. Nowadays, new types of crimes have also emerged due to the advancements in technology. The internet allows for cybercrimes such as attacking someone's computer with malware, online scams, illegal trades, phishing, cyber bullying or even accessing prohibited content. In a similar way, with the invention of the car, crimes like speeding and illegal parking came to existence. It is evident that most serious crimes existed both past and present, however minor offences have changed with the development of the human race.
Trials were the method used to decide if someone was innocent or guilty, and hasn’t changed much since the medieval period. In early medieval europe, trial by ordeal was the method used, but it soon evolved to become trial by jury, the method we use today. There were many forms of trial by ordeal, all of which relied on the decision of god, these include: trial by fire, trial by battle and trial by water. Today, many would question these approaches and deem them impractical. This led to the development of trial by jury, 50 years later it was written in the Magna Carta that everyone had the right to trial by jury. With this, trial by jury soon replaced trial by ordeal and became the preeminent trialing system. Contrary to trial by ordeal, trial by jury is completely based on the decision of the juries; the twelve common people who represent the local community. Juries are from diverse backgrounds and have no relation with the accused, so the result is more likely to be neutral. Trial by jury is also a innocent until proven guilty system, unlike trial by ordeal which is guilty until proven innocent. Though both trial by ordeal and trial by jury were created in the medieval period. It is palpable that trial by jury, which relies on human knowledge, is principally different to trial by ordeal which relied on the decision of god.
A guilty person is bound to be punished, but the punishments that existed in medieval england greatly differ from the punishments of present day Australia. In early medieval times, punishments were very common, because of the unfair luck-based trial system used. A variety of methods were used to discipline the offender, they comprise of fines, shaming (being placed in stocks), mutilation or death. Mutilation and death were by far the worst possible punishments, mutilation could involve castration or binding. Many aspects have to be taken into consideration before capital punishments to decide how someone will die, nobel's will be beheaded whereas peasants would be lynched. However most of these practices are very immoral so Australia has abrogated them and replaced them with imprisonment. Nonetheless, fines still exist as they are feasible and effective. Despite the fact that many medieval punishments have been abandoned due to ethical and moral issues, fines are still a proficient way of disciplining felons.
It is quite clear that there has been a recognizable change in crimes, trials and punishments since medieval Europe. There has been a constant change in what is considered a crime, and our constantly evolving technology has also created new methods of committing crime. Furthermore, trials changed drastically in the medieval period, but has yet to change since then. Finally, many punishments have been deserted because they were considered inhumane.