JOBLESS mechanic Leon Humphreys shocked magistrates by demanding the right to trial by combat under medieval law when he appeared at a Suffolk court.Mr Humphreys, 60, made his request after being charged with failing to notify the DVLA that his motorcycle was off the road.
Mr Humphreys, then 60, took a next-level approach to challenging his £25 ticket back in 2002, issued for failing to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that his motorcycle was off the road.
Leon Humphreys demanded trial by combat, citing medieval precedent.
He “claimed he was entitled to ask the court to establish his guilt or innocence by allowing him to fight to the death against a champion nominated by the DVLA,” reported the Ipswich Star.
A parking ticket under the wiper blade awaits a future unhappy motorist.
Humphreys, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, unemployed at the time, said that his choosing trial by combat meant he did not have to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. However, the court decided to log his plea as “not guilty.”
The defendant offered to take on a clerk from Swansea with “samurai swords, Gurkha knives or heavy hammers.”
Samurai sword
Humphreys told the media after his hearing: “I believe the right to trial by combat is still on the statute books. I can ask for it because the new Human Rights law gives ordinary people the right to use the law for their own purposes. I am willing to fight a champion put up by the DVLA if they want to accept my challenge – but they must remember it is a fight to the death.”
He continued: “The victor speaks in the name of God and justice so it is a reasonable enough way of sorting the matter out. I know I am in the right so I do not have anything to worry about. I am reasonably fit and not afraid of taking anyone on in a fight.”
Not only did the court disagree, but the magistrates fined him £200 with £100 costs.
Trial by combat arrived with the Normans after the invasion in 1066. It was lawful for people to fight each other to solve disputes — because the person in the right would win, as God would back the victor.
A 1540s depiction of a judicial combat in Augsburg in 1409, between Marshal Wilhelm von Dornsberg and Theodor Haschenacker. Dornsberg’s sword broke early in the duel, but he proceeded to kill Haschenacker with his own sword.
“The law used to allow people like priests, women and the elderly to substitute champions to fight on their behalf,” said the Ipswich Star.
The practice was commonplace until the 1300s. Then, however, the system of trial by jury began to be accepted.
Judicial combat in the Dresden codex
A DVLA spokeswoman said: “We have never dealt with a request for trial by combat before. We are looking into the legal issues.”
