1 WTF?!: An Economic Tour of the Weird Peter T. Leeson

WTF?!: An Economic Tour of the Weird

Peter T. Leeson

Last annotated on Monday October 30, 2017

87 Highlight(s) | 67 Note(s)

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2 Burn, Baby, Burn
Note:2@@@@@@@@

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judicial procedures that seem downright stupid may in fact be very wise.
Note:PRIMO INSEGNAMENTO

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when “ordinary” evidence is lacking,
Note:SE L EVIDENZA MANCA SI PUÒ CREARE...SECONDO INSEGNAMENTO

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based on a lie
Note:STRUMENTO

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an ordeal cauldron.

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail

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to compare her weight to that of a duck.
Note:METODO X STABILIRE LA STREGONERIA

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ninth through thirteenth centuries,
Note:EPOCA D ORO

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“plunge his hand into the boiling water”
Note:METODO

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safe and unharmed
Note:LA MANO DELL INNOCENTE

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burn injuries on inspection three days later.
Note:LA MANO DEL COLPEVOLE

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homicide, robbery, or arson.
Note:RISERVATA AI CRIMINI SERI

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cases that judges couldn’t confidently decide
Note:RISERVATA AI CASI DIFFICILI

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This merely required criminals to spontaneously admit their guilt
Note:COSA OCCORRE X CONDANNARE... IN ASSENZA DI EVIDENZE

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judges would exonerate the defendant if he and a court-determined number of “oath helpers” swore his innocence—
Note:COSA OCCORRE X SCAGIONATE

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ordeals.
Note:CASI RESIDUI

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justified on the grounds that they were iudicia Dei—
Note:GIUSTIFICAZIONE ORDEALS

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“Let doubtful cases be determined by the judgment of God,” a Carolingian capitulary directed.
Note:PRINCIPIO DEL GARANTISMO

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lurking below that facade was a good deal of wisdom.
Note:LA SAGGEZZA DELL O... SALOMONE

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torture him to encourage him to tell the truth.
Note:L ALTERNATIVA A CHIEDERE A DIO

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produce lots of mistakes.
Note:ENTRAMBI GLI APPROCCI

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ordeals actually exonerated the majority of people who underwent them.
Note:TIPICO DI O

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innumerable examples of persons plunging their naked arms into boiling water, handling red-hot balls of iron, and walking upon burning ploughshares, without receiving the least injury.”
Note:IL FATTO STRANO: GLI ILLESI

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Regestrum Varadinense,
Note:FONTE

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208 hot iron ordeals
Note:CASI RIPORTATI

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Probands passed in 130 cases, 62.5
Note:INNOCENZA

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something funny must’ve been going on.
Note:STRANO... FINO AL DIVERTENTE

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English plea rolls,
Note:ALTRA FONTE

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Sixteen

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fourteen passed.

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All three probands who underwent hot iron ordeals passed too.
Note:100%!!!!!

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89 percent of the time.

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to decline the ordeal, confessing his crime or settling with the farmer instead.
Note:IL COLPEVOLE CREDENTE CONFESSA PRIMA DELL ORDALIA... SI RISPARMIA LA TORTURA DELLA PENTOLA

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In this case, if Frithogar undergoes the ordeal, he expects to pull his arm from the boiling water unburned.
Note:IL CREDENTE INNOCENTE ANELA ALL ORDALIA

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This is similar to the way that King Solomon leveraged the specter of cutting the baby
Note:LO SPETTRO DELL ORDALIA

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ordeals work only if they exonerate those who undergo them.
Note:TUTTO FILA SOLO SE....

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exactly what they did in most cases.

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how can boiling water be made innocuous to human flesh? [The questioner shrugs.] By iudicia cleri.
Note:IL RUOLO DEI SACERDOTI

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fix ordeals to find the “correct” result.

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lower the water’s temperature

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instructions seem fishy.
Note:AMBIGUITÀ DELLE PROCEDURE... LASCIATO MOLTO ARBITRIO AI CERIMONIERI

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only the priest and proband are initially allowed in the church
Note:RITO ESCLUSIVO... ALTRO CHE STREAMING...PRIMA MOSSA MANIPOLATIVA

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opportunity to manipulate

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this puts them a considerable distance from the ordeal
Note:OSSERVATORI A DISTANZA DI SICUREZZA...SECONDA OCCASIONE MANIPOLATIVA

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the instructions direct the priest to sprinkle the proband’s hand with holy water immediately before he carries the iron. It’s easy to imagine how “sprinkling” could become dousing under a manipulative priest’s control. The water helps offset
Note:L ACQUA BENEDETTA COMPENSA... TERZA MOSSA MANIPOLATIVA

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Ordeal formulas also granted clerics discretion in deciding ordeal outcomes.
Note:AI SACERDOTI DEMANDATO IL GIUDIZIO FINALE..QUARTA OCCASIONE MANIPOLATIVA

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Are you suggesting that my holy predecessors knew they were tricking everyone—
Note:SCANDALO DEI SACERDOTI CONTEMPORANEI

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manipulation doesn’t necessarily mean that priests didn’t believe ordeals
Note:CALMA

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special interpretive powers
Note:INTERPRETAZ

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instruments of God’s will.
Note:STRUMENTO

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priests act in the person of Christ
Note:LA SUA VOCE SULLA TERRA

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“Ordeals only work—and what you say only makes sense—if defendants totally buy the idea that God will
Note:CONSIZIONE DELLA FEDE

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if ordeals exonerate everyone, people must have caught on.
Note:ORDALIA MASCHERATA

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Skeptics pose a potential problem.

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condemn some probands.
Note:LA SOLYZIONE DEI PRETI X LIMITARE IL SISPETTO

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The more skeptical people were that ordeals were iudicia Dei, the more probands priests had to condemn
Note:CONDANNARE GLI SCETTICI

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what could an innocent person condemned by an ordeal do?
Note:CONDANNARE QUALCHE INOCENTE NN È UN PROBLEMA: CHE PUÒ FARE?

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One medieval defendant who was accused of murder, for instance, underwent an ordeal, failed, and was hanged. A few weeks later the man he murdered came home.
Note:CASO SPINOSO

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The prospect that evidence would come back later to contradict ordeal results was therefore slim.
Note:ANTIDORO 1 I CASI SCELTI

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rendering ordeals explicitly religious,
Note:ANTIDORO 2 CONFIRMATION BIAS... LA GENTE ERA MOLTO RELIGIOSA

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Priests administered ordeals in churches as part of ordeal masses.
Note:RITUALITÀ

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biblical foundations of ordeals too, emphasizing their divine precedent

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God’s omniscience, omnipotence, and infallible power

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High-ranking ecclesiastics began to seriously question the relationship of ordeals to their religion in the twelfth century:
Note:XII SECOLO... DUBBI SUL COLLEGAMENTO

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they lacked scriptural support.
Note:L ARGOMENTO AVANZATI

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Trials of fire and water required priests to command God to perform miracles
Note:IL VERO PROBLWMA TEOLOGICO CHE ALLONTANÒ LA CHIESA DALL ORDALIA

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Fourth Lateran Council

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1215

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ban priests from participating

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Denmark prohibited them in 1216, England in 1219, and Scotland in 1230.

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“Robbed . . . of all religious sanction,” trials by fire and water became useless
Note:LA SYPERSTIZIONE ERA ESSENZIALE

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technological advance has made fact finding infinitely cheaper
Note:PERCHÈ NN LA USIAMO? FACT CHECKING...

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we—with the possible exception of Scientologists—don’t believe
Note:MANCANZA DI FEDE

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Google “sassywood”
Note:ANCORA USATA DOVE CI SONO LE CONDIZIONI... LIBERIA

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Liberia,

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Sierra Leone,

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America’s legal system leverages superstition to improve its judicial outcomes
Note:IL RUOLO DELLA SUPERSTIZIONE OGGI

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polygraph tests.
Note:MACCHINA DELKA VERITÀ

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a dozen states permit polygraph

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Lie detector tests are bullshit.

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Although lie detector tests can’t really discover whether people are lying or telling the truth, if people believe they can, lie detectors can facilitate sorting in the same way as ordeals.

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LA REALE FUNZIONE DELKA MDV

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But lots of people—modern people, in the United States, who pride themselves on their scientific approach to life—hold this superstition.
Note:FARE LEVA SULKA SUPERSTIZIONE SCUENRIFICA

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swearing an oath to tell the truth in God’s name, even on the Bible,
GIURAMENTO SULLA BIBBIA