Note 080
Montesquieu (The Spirit of Laws, 1. xxviii. c. 17) has
condescended to explain and excuse "la maniere de penser de
nos peres" on the subject of judicial combats. He follows
this strange institution from the age of Gundobald to that
of St. Lewis; and the philosopher is sometimes lost in the
legal antiquarian.
The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The
Roman Empire—Volume 1—
Chapter 38