PEINE FORTE ET DURE


Meaning of PEINE FORTE ET DURE in English

(French; " strong and hard punishment ")

Formerly in English law, punishment inflicted on those accused of a felony who refused to enter a plea.

By a statute of 1275, the peine was usually to imprison and starve the prisoner until he submitted; in 1406 pressing by heavy weights was added to this. In one of the few instances of its use in the American colonies, during the Salem witch trials , 80-year-old Giles Corey, who had decided not to stand trial rather than forfeit his family's goods, was pressed to death by interrogators. The practice was abolished in 1772.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.