ABSTRACT
The Rise of Judicial Torture in England ENGLISHMEN have always been, as they are to-day, inclined to boast that torture has never been practised in their country. The statement is an erroneous one. It is based upon and is due to the fact that torture has never been legally recognized by the common law of England. Apart, however, from the many cases where, in defiance of common law, and with the authority of the reigning monarch, torture was repeatedly used both to extract confession and to obtain evidence; persecution, as I have been at some pains to point out (cf. Chapter I), has always existed. However it may have been, disguised, euphemized or justified under the name of punishment or as discipline, torture it has remained nonetheless. And in this respect, all through the ages, torture in England has been applied in full measure.
