Louis the Pious prescribed combat between witnesses of each side, rather than between the accuser and the accused, and briefly allowed for the Ordeal of the Cross in cases involving clerics. The losing party besides forfeiting their claim to the land is required to pay a fine.Ĭapitularies governing its use appear from the year 803 onwards. A handful of earth taken from the disputed piece of land is put between the contestants and they are required to touch it with their swords, each swearing that their claim is lawful. The Lex Alamannorum ( recension Lantfridana 81, dated to 712–730 AD) prescribes a trial by combat in the event of two families disputing the boundary between their lands.

Being rooted in Germanic tribal law, the various regional laws of the Frankish Empire (and the later Holy Roman Empire) prescribed different particulars, such as equipment and rules of combat. The practice is regulated in various Germanic legal codes. However, it is recorded in the medieval Irish Brehon Laws, such as Din Techtugad.

It was unknown in Anglo-Saxon law and Roman law and it does not figure in the traditions of Middle Eastern antiquity such as the code of Hammurabi or the Torah. It was in use among the ancient Burgundians, Ripuarian Franks, Alamans, Lombards, and Swedes. The practice was 'almost universal in Europe' according to medievalist Eric Jager. Unlike trial by ordeal in general, which is known to many cultures worldwide, trial by combat is known primarily from the customs of the Germanic peoples.

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