Court refuses trial by combat

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 12/16/2002 | David Sapsted

[dighton]

A court has rejected a 60-year-old man’s attempt to invoke the ancient right to trial by combat, rather than pay a £25 fine for a minor motoring offence.

Leon Humphreys remained adamant yesterday that his right to fight a champion nominated by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) was still valid under European human rights legislation. He said it would have been a “reasonable” way to settle the matter.

Magistrates sitting at Bury St Edmunds on Friday had disagreed and instead of accepting his offer to take on a clerk from Swansea with “samurai swords, Ghurka knives or heavy hammers”, fined him £200 with £100 costs.

Humphreys, an unemployed mechanic, was taken to court after refusing to pay the original £25 fixed penalty for failing to notify the DVLA that his Suzuki motorcycle was off the road.

After entering a not guilty plea, he threw down his unconventional challenge. Humphreys, from Bury St Edmunds, said: “I was willing to fight a champion put up by the DVLA, but it would have been a fight to the death.”

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.

[xJones]

I knew it would get ugly. Here's Mikuski's photo from her website.

.

Would you challege her in Maryland with a full suit of armor AND abestos undies?

[Jonathon Spectre]

A court has rejected a 60-year-old man’s attempt to invoke the ancient right to trial by combat, rather than pay a £25 fine for a minor motoring offence.

Possible best post ever ping.

[Cacique]

Trial by combat, now there is a concept that we should resurect.

[Cacique]

How could you miss this one?

[Maximum Leader]

LOL
That may be the cruelest (and funniest) historical reference I've ever read on Freerepublic!

[general_re]

The hell with legal - the "fun factor" alone is enough for me. I do believe the chap might have been serious, in which case, the battle of Everyman versus the Motor Vehicles Department would have had widespread appeal, as Everyman finally gets his chance to beat the tar out of that snotty b*st*rd behind the counter. The one who wants to play the Great and Powerful Oz for the hapless customers who only want to renew their damn licenses. "Fetch me her broom, peon! And then you may have your license!"

Hey, guess where I was last week? ;)

[etcetera]

" Hey, guess where I was last week?"

Dont' tell me! Don't tell me! Let me guess...you were in Honolulu running the marathon?

[general_re]

Let me guess...you were in Honolulu running the marathon?

Close, very close. Okay, I'll give you two guesses ;)

[etcetera]

" Close, very close. Okay, I'll give you two guesses"

OK...you were in Kona running the Triathlon?

[general_re]

Dealing with NY DMV has been known to take on that feeling ;)

[anymouse]

Hold my sword alert. :)

[patronanejo]

In certain types of cases--apparently not restricted to felonies--trial by wager of law or by wager of battle was possible.

The latter was abolished in 1819 in Act to abolish Appeals of Murder, Treason, Felony or Other Offenses, and Wager of Battle, or joining Issue and Trial by Battle, in Writs of Right, 59 Geo. 3, ch. 46 § 2 (1819)(Eng.).

The former [which I imagine to be the adversarial paradigm of American legal practise] was abolished in 1833 in An Act for the further Amendment of the Law and the better Advancement of Justice, 3 & 4 Will. 4, ch. 42 § 13 (1833)(Eng.).