Extensive Definition
Compurgation, also called wager of law, is a
defense used primarily in medieval law. A defendant could establish his
innocence or nonliability by taking an oath and by getting a
required number of persons, typically twelve, to swear they
believed his oath.
Compurgation was found in early Germanic
law, in Welsh law and
in English ecclesiastical
courts until the 17th century. In common law it
was substantially abolished as a defense in felonies by the
Constitutions of Clarendon in 1164. The defense was
still permitted in civil actions for debt and vestiges of it
survived in England until its
final abolition in 1833.