Parties in legal proceedings are chiefly in dispute over assertions of facts. Persuading a court of law of the truth of such assertions is central to the outcome of the trial procedure. The procedure whereby the court is persuaded is called the proof (German Beweis), as is its result.
The resolution of disputes in medieval trials often depended on a party’s taking an oath of repute (German Leumundseid), assisted by sworn witnesses (“compurgators”; Oath). The purpose of this procedure was not so m…