Rack in United Kingdom
Meaning of Rack
The following is an old definition of Rack [1]: An engine of torture, consisting of a large frame upon which the body of a person could be gradually stretched until the joints became dislocated. Was used for extorting confessions from convicts and suspected persons. Trial by rack is unknown to the law of England. Certain ministers of Henry IV, as a beginning to the introduction of the civil law into the kingdom, erected a rack of torture in the Tower of London; and this was used as an engine of state, not of law, more than once in the reign of Elizabeth. When, however, upon the assassination of Villiers by Felton, it was proposed to put the assassin to the rack to discover who his accomplices were, the judges decided that the proceeding was not allowable.
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Notes and References
- Concept of Rack provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)