Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Power, Jurisdiction, and Criminal Investigation -- 2 The Formation of a Criminal Inquisition -- 3 Fama, Notoriety, and the Due Process of Law -- 4 Proofs, Defenses, and the Determination of Guilt or Innocence -- 5 Resolutions: Conviction, Absolution, and Mitigation -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Names -- Index of Places -- Index of Subjects.

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In Public Justice and the Criminal Trial in Late Medieval Italy: Reggio Emilia in the Visconti Age , Joanna Carraway Vitiello examines the criminal trial at the end of the fourteenth century. Inquisition procedure, in which a powerful judge largely controlled the trial process, was in regular use in the criminal court at Reggio. Yet during the period considered in this study, technical procedural developments combined with the political realities of the town to create a system of justice that prosecuted crime but also encouraged dispute resolution. Following the stages of the process, including investigation, denunciation, the weighing of evidence, and the verdict, this study investigates the court’s complex role as a vehicle for both personal justice and prosecution in the public interest.

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