(Newswire.net — August 9, 2015) — New York – A New York lawyer and ‘Game of Thrones’ fan demands ‘Trial by combat’ in New York Supreme Court Case, Business Insider reported.
Richard Luthmann, a Staten Island lawyer and HBO’s the ‘Game of Thrones’ superfan, faces accusations that he aided a client in committing a fraudulent transfer.
Luthmann claims that the practice of ‘Trial by combat’ has never been officially outlawed in the United States. Demanding justice, he has officially requested that he be allowed to end the dispute in a fight to the death.
“Defendant invokes the common law writ of right and demands his common law right to Trial By Combat as against plaintiffs and their counsel, whom plaintiff wishes to implead into the Trial By Combat by writ of right,” the court filing states.
According to Luthmann, the practice was brought to America by the first settlers from Germany, and it was never been officially outlawed.
“The common law of Britain was in effect in New York in 1776,” Luthmann told The New York Post. “And the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution recognizes the penumbra of those rights.”
“Since [1776], no American court in post-independence United States to the undersigned’s knowledge has addressed the issue, and thus the trial by combat remains a right reserved to the people and a valid alternative to civil action,” Luthmann writes.
Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right, according to Wikipedia.
According to Business Insider, a 60-year-old British citizen, Leon Humphreys, recently demanded justice by combat over $40 traffic ticket. Weapon of choice – the Samurai sword.
Although the European human rights legislation would still allow it, the British court obviously rejected his proposal.
Trials by combat have played a significant role in HBO’s star series the “Game of Thrones” which enters its 6th season.
‘Trial by combat’