Ordeals: an economic vindication of ancient Indian "nonsense"

Ordeals: an economic vindication of ancient Indian "nonsense"

Author: 
Wiese, Harald
Publisher: 
Cambridge University Press
Date published: 
2016
Record type: 
Journal Title: 
Bulletin of the school of Oriental and African studies
Source: 
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 79, No. 3, October 2016, pp. 513-534
Abstract: 

Ordeals (by fire, by water, etc.) are a judicial institution in which defendants try to prove their innocence by divine judgement. In a recent law and economics paper, Leeson (2012) suggests that (medieval) ordeals "work" because, and if, ordeal takers have sufficient belief in them and because the priests administering ordeals "manipulate" them in an appropriate manner. We find that Leeson's theory also helps us understand Indian ordeals. Interestingly, some dharma texts require that the accuser agrees to the ordeal too, a requirement absent in Leeson's theory. We extend Leesons's model accordingly.

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CITATION: Wiese, Harald. Ordeals: an economic vindication of ancient Indian "nonsense" . : Cambridge University Press , 2016. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 79, No. 3, October 2016, pp. 513-534 - Available at: https://library.au.int/ordeals-economic-vindication-ancient-indian-nonsense