THE JUDICIAL USE OF TORTURE.

The article discusses the judicial use of torture in historical perspective. The earliest use of torture was in Athens and Rome. Among the Greeks and under the Roman Republic torture was almost entirely confined to slaves, as a rule no free citizen being subjected to it; and in Rome, indeed, the exemption was one of the privileges of citizenship. The reason for torturing slaves is to be found, no doubt, in the belief that the slave, being absolutely at the mercy of his master, would naturally testify in accordance with the master's wishes, unless some stronger incentive to speak the truth were brought to bear.