PEINE FORTE ET DURE

(French: strong and hard punishment), in English law, punishment that was inflicted upon those who were accused of a felony and stood silent, refusing to plead either guilty or not guilty, or upon those who challenged more than 20 prospective jurors. By the Statute of Westminster, 1275, the peine was usually to imprison and starve until submission, but in 1406 pressing to death by heavy weights was added to this. An individual who chose to stand mute under the threat of peine forte et dure often did so to ensure that his goods and estates would be inherited by his family; if he entered a plea and was subsequently tried and convicted, his goods would pass directly to the crown. In treason cases peine forte et dure was not applicable, because standing mute in such cases meant a plea of guilty. Peine forte et dure was abolished in 1772, when standing mute was made equivalent to conviction. By an act of 1827 a plea of not guilty was to be entered against any prisoner refusing to plead, and that has since remained the rule in English law. Peine forte et dure was rarely used in the American colonies. The few instances of its use helped to prompt the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments.