单选题 Community courts and community justice prevailed in England at the time of the Norman Conquest. The legal system was ritualistic, dependent upon oaths at most stages of lawsuit. The proceedings were oral, very personal, and highly confrontative. Juries were unknown. One party publicly "appealed", or accused, the other before the community meeting at which the presence of both was obligatory. To be absent meant risking fines and outlawry. After the preliminary statements of the parties, the court rendered judgment, not on the merits ot7 the issue nor the question of guilt or innocence, but on the manner by which it should be resolved. Judgment, in other words, preceded trial because it was a decision on what form the trial should take. It might be by ordeal, or, after the Norman Conquest, by battle. Excepting trial by battle, only one party was tried or, more accurately, was put to his "proof". Proof being regarded as an advantage, it was usually awarded to the accused party; in effect he had the privilege of proving his own case.
Ordeals were usually reserved for more serious crimes, for persons of bad reputation, for peasants, or for those caught with stolen goods. The accused underwent a physical trial in which he called upon God to witness his innocence by putting a miraculous sign upon his body. Cold water, boiling water, and hot iron were the principal ordeals, all of which the clergy administered. In the ordeal of cold water, the accused was trussed up and cast into a pool to see whether he would sink or float. On the theory that water which had been sanctified by a priest would receive an innocent person but reject the guilty, innocence was proved by sinking and guilt by floating. In the other ordeals, one had to plunge his hand into a cauldron of boiling water or carry a red hot piece of iron for a certain distance, in the hope that three days later, when the bandages were removed, the priest would find a "clean" wound, one that was healing free of infection. How deeply one plunged his arm into the water, how heavy the iron or great the distance it was carried, depended mainly on the gravity of the charge.
The Normans brought to England still another ordeal, trial by battle. Trial by battle was a savage yet sacred method of proof which was also thought to involve divine judgment on behalf of the righteous. Rather than let a wrongdoer triumph, God would presumably strengthen the arms of the party who had sworn truly to the justice of his cause. Right, not might, would therefore conquer. Trial by battle was originally available for the settlement of all disputes but eventually was restricted to cases of serious crime.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 从第二段的陈述我们了解到，神裁法通常用于严重的犯罪，适用于名声不好的人、农民或盗贼。被告要接受体罚，让神通过在他身上显现神迹来判定他无辜。冷水、沸水和烧红的烙铁是主要的刑具，由牧师行刑。如果用冷水裁决，罪犯被捆绑起来，投入池中，看他下沉还是上浮。因为水是牧师赋予神性的，所以会接受无罪者但拒绝有罪者。基于这样的理论，被告下沉则证明无罪，上浮证明有罪。下文提到的其他裁决方式，无一不需要靠神的力量来解决。