JUDICIUM DEI, Judgment of God, was a term anciently applied to all extraordinary trials of secret crimes; as those by arms, and single combat, and the ordeals; or those by fire, or red-hot plough-shares; by plunging the arm in boiling water, or the whole body in cold water; in hopes God would work a miracle, rather than suffer truth and innocence to perish. Si super defendere non possit, judicio Dei, scil. aqua vel ferro, fieret deo iustitia.—These customs were a long time kept up even among Christians; and they are still in use in some nations. See BATTEL, ORDEAL, &c.—Trials of this sort were usually held in churches in presence of the bishops, priests, and secular judges; after three days fasting, confession, communion, and many adjurations and ceremonies described at large by Du Cange.
JUDICIUM PARUM denotes a trial by a man's equals, i. e. of peers by peers, and of commoners by commoners. In magna charta it is more than once insisted on as the principal bulwark of our liberties, but especially by chap. 29. that no freeman shall be hurt in either his person or property, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum vel per legem terre. And this was ever esteemed in all countries a privilege of the highest and most beneficial nature.