BRUNI, Francesco, et al.

by Francesco, et al Bruni

£1,850 · Offered by Sokol Books

.An interesting legal compendium on presumption of guilt and the justification for torture to extract confessions, first published Rome 1543, and containing the important fifteenth-century treatise of this title by the Italian judge Francesco Bruni (d.1510), first published Siena 1495. Also included here are similar treatises by the medieval Guido da Suzzara (d.1292), with commentary by the editor Ludovico Bolognini (1447-1508), jurist and diplomat, and Baldo Perigli of Perugia (d.c.1511), both of which appeared in this compendium for the first time... . . ..Bruni s treatise effectively functions as a guide to judges in criminal trials, especially on the subject of indicia, i.e. circumstantial signs or indicators that evidence is true: how to treat indicia contained within witness depositions; on presumption of guilt from indicia as a justification for torture to extract confessions, for example in cases of housebreaking, where the defendant s running away indicates their guilt; the validity of confessions that are gained from torture as evidence; the conditions under which indicia can be used to condemn the criminal without recourse to torture; and finally, when such evidence is inadmissible or should be quashed. .. . . ..Da Suzzara s work is more specifically on interrogation through torture, which he advocates in both criminal and civil cases, or anywhere where the judge is uncertain of the truth. However, he seems to take a more enlightened attitude to torture, which was

• Binding: Hardcover

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