Constitutions of Clarendon
Compurgation was found in early Germanic law, in early French law ("très ancienne coutume de Bretagne"), in Welsh law, and in the English ecclesiastical courts until the seventeenth century. In common law it was substantially abolished as a defence in felonies by the Constitutions of Clarendon in 1164. The defence was still permitted in civil actions for debt and vestiges of it survived until its statutory repeal at various times in common law countries: in England in 1833, and Queensland at some point before the Queensland Common Practice Act of 1867 which makes direct reference to the abolition of wager of law.