Inquisition – a Legal Precedent
The Inquisition of the Middle Ages was a notorious development in the history of civilized society. It took shape in Europe in the thirteenth century with the express purpose of suppressing dissent in the Christian world. The Inquisition formalised brutality and used every means possible to bludgeon the accused into submission. Some of its methods have survived to the present time. The Inquisition gave carte blanche to tyrants to inflict their will, no questions asked. Very few acts of barbarity committed today do not have some resonance in a papal decree issued in a more forbidding time. A long while ago but old habits die hard.

The Inquisition was the worst form of sanctified cruelty ever visited on earth. It was sanctioned by the Vatican and executed by the Dominicans. Thugs were let lose on the populace. They might as well have been savaged by mad dogs. The rottweilers of the Roman Church had arrived. Their kind still exists. Today their abode is referred to kindly as the Holy Office. But for those on the wrong side of a papal writ their teeth are just as sharp.

It must give great solace to the legal fraternity that their misguided actions have a precedent. Every little deceit that they engage in has retrospective blessing from the Inquisition. Few methods of cruelty escaped the inquisitions. They had an ingenious capacity to think up ways to torment their victims. Lawyers too know about the hardship game, they learnt well from their pious masters. The ease with which bishops and barristers interface is not surprising, they read the same history books. The Nazis likewise were bred from the same gene pool.

The Jews were liquidated, so too were the heretics of the Middle Ages. The heretics’ crime was to question authority or to hold an unacceptable view. All opposition had to be destroyed. This was the price of holding onto power. The Roman Church was determined that no alternative view of the world prevailed. It had it from ‘on high’ and its truth was eternal and unchangeable. Anyone that deviated from this was burned at the stake. The Jews likewise were consigned to the gas chambers. All descent had to be eradicated. For those acquainted with legalese a similar mindset exists.

The aristocrats of the law know only too well what power is and the mechanisms by which it can be retained. They didn't get control of white-collar crime by playing it fair. The jack-boot tactics are never too far away, standing on ceremony is not their forte. Lawyers get their power from the courts. The inquisitors were papal appointees with celestial blessing. The Nazis claimed to be obeying superior orders.

All are noted for the complete absence of any moral compass, referring to others for vindication; all happy to be used as instruments in the armoury of an oppressive state. It is in this fashion that a police state takes shape. When the individual surrenders his mind unthinkingly to a given creed the worst sort of demons take control.

During the Inquisition once a person was identified there was no escape. The apparatus of Church and State kicked in and the unlucky victim was doomed. Issues such as guilt or innocence were peripheral. In fact if the accused was known to be innocent all the better. The fear of arbitrary arrest was therefore widespread. Innocence was no longer a guarantee of liberty. Think of Stalin's Russia, Iran under the Shah and the Stasi in East Germany. All had their origins in the Inquisition. The Roman Church has a lot to account for.

The legal system underpins the dictator and marshals the resources of the state against the individual. Unable to contend with pressure from numerous state bodies he succumbs. Burnings at the stake may be history but how many have been left hung out to dry. The Jews knew about the power of the state when it turned against them. The church of course was their persecutor as well.

Parallels in human affairs are not recognised and history keeps repeating itself, perversely in most cases. The legal eagles now hold sway. Their predatory instincts have been unleashed on the church of late. But all cannibals devour their own. They also protect them. The Roman Church bred a pup, that progeny is the legal system.

Once the fore-bearer begets an heir it can be discarded. The church has little power today; the legal fraternity will carry on its work. Men in black gowns, all intoxicated by symbols of power. Is it a coincidence that legalese and the Third Reich are both symbolised by the ferocious clawed eagle? The Roman Empire which nurtured the fledgling church, also had a similar insignia.

Witches were the harbingers of doom during the Middle Ages. Anyone that possessed an independent repository of thought or power was seen as a threat. Healing abilities, prophetic intuition and telepathic skills constituted an alternative reality. Because it operated outside the preserve of the elect it had to be destroyed. The legal fraternity likewise are hell-bent on protecting a monopoly. The German Nazis were prepared to extinguish an entire race of people to get their way.

The Jews had no protection neither did the heretics during the Middle Ages. In fact church teaching stipulated that heretics had no rights at all. Heretics had put themselves outside the law and could be destroyed at the whim of any inquisitor. More often than not they were. The church during the Inquisition unwittingly laid down the framework within which law would be practised henceforth. It is not surprising therefore that it has all the cruel hallmarks of its fore-bearers.

Without a moral reference point the machine mentality was destined to take over. Cold, emotionless and detached are now words which commonly preface legalese. The victims of the court system can testify to this. The machine mentality was also the ideology that mobilised Germany for war in the mid 1930's. Ruthless efficiency was the phenomenon behind the march into Poland and the recapturing of the Rhineland.

The inquisitor's preoccupation with divine justice and heavenly rewards did not exclude a lust for earthly comforts. After the heretic was condemned his belongings were confiscated. The more he had the better. The rich had most to fear. The executioners and the scribes were first to get a share of the spoils. The remainder was divided between the inquisition and the pope's militia. The cloaked robbers amassed a fortune. The accused paid for the whole facade. Lawyers love this, a vindication of their own theft. The Nazis by the way stole everything. A mixture of religion and terror is a potent force by any measure.

The Inquisition provides the key to understanding the Catholic Church. Why would a spiritual organisation resort to terror to implement its will and why would it need to be the foremost political power in Europe? If it was happy with its own semi divine status why would it need to exert so much temporal power?

There is something lacking at the heart of the Roman Church, something missing which drives the select in search of another meaning. A functional house will not go to war. The history of the Roman Church is replete with conflict, and conquest. Its domineering instincts are similar to those in the legal profession. No wonder that both institutions accommodate the other with such relative ease. Birds of a feather flock together.
Galileo likewise had to play the game. He recanted courtesy of the flat earth society – another victim of the virtuous Vatican. Progress was halted and clerical power retained. In an effort to cling onto the dark ages, the scientific light was shunned.

If the earth revolved around the sun, where was heaven and earth? Better to hold on to the dungeons. Earthly power was preserved at the cost of independent thought. All reason had to subscribe to the idioms of the day. Thinking came from on high and the individual followed dutifully. Suspect or impure thoughts were subject to confessional sanction. All deviance was excised. The act alone was not sufficient, the thought had to be correct as well, vigilantes saw to that. Modern technology is equally intrusive, personality profiling is now mainstream. Closed circuit cameras are only the outer signs of a much more invasive threat. Legal minds are involved, no doubt working in the background.

Big Brother, Mother Church or the Fatherland. Which comes first? A question surely for the lawyers.

Seamus Power, Wexford. (087-752-2838)