TORTURE
TORTURE
EXPANDED EDITION
Edward Peters
PENN
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
First edition copyright © 1985 Edward Peters
First published 1985 by Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Expanded edition copyright © 1996, 1999 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peters, Edward. 1936–
Torture / Edward Peters.—Expanded ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8122-1599-0 (alk. paper)
1. Torture—History. 2. Torture (International law) 3. Torture—Europe—
History. I. Title.
K5410.T6P48 1996
| 341.8′1—dc20 | 96-32654 CIP |
Contents
Preface to the Expanded Edition
Introduction: Torture – Past and Present – and the Historian
1 A Delicate and Dangerous Business
The emergence of torture in Greek law
The character of Roman torture
Roman law and Germanic societies
2 The Queen of Proofs and the Queen of Torments
The legal revolution of the twelfth century
Abolition, law and moral sensibility
Abolition: the historians at work
Statutory abolition
Some comparisons
The freeing of the law
4 ‘Engines of the State, not of Law’
The police and the state
Warfare, prisoners and military intelligence
Political crime
Law and the state in revolutionary societies
The discovery of Algeria
5 ‘To become, or to remain, human …’
The language of Eden
After Algeria
Room 101 – and other rooms
Without end?
Bibliographical Addendum: Torture—History and Practice, 1985–1995
Postscript, 1999
Appendix: Judicial Torture—Documents and Commentary
I. The Theodosian Code, Book 9, Title 35
II. The Digest of Justinian, Book 48, Title 18
III. The Code of Justinian, Book 9, Title 41
IV. Augustine: The City of God, XIX.6
V. The Visigothic Code: On Torture
VI. Torture by Inquisitors: Innocent IV and Alexander IV
VII. The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina
VIII. The Jurisprudence of Torture: Sebastian Guazzini
IX. John Locke: Letter on Toleration
X. The Moral Protest: Cesare Beccaria