Parallel Trials

by Geoffrey Gibson

Overview

This book considers the two most raked over trials in history. It looks at them in tandem under the following headings: Sources; Powers; Laws; Accused; Teachings; Accusers; Courts; Charges; Prosecutions; Defences; Verdicts; Reactions; Conclusions; History; Responsibility.
No book has analysed either trial in such a way. In order to keep some kind of narrative going for both trials, some of the more controversial issues in the trial of Jesus are looked at in detail in Appendices. They set out the relevant terms of one of the gospels and give some comments on the difficulties that flow from them, and raise questions like: Was it blasphemy for Jesus to claim to be the son of God? Could the Sanhedrin have enforced a death sentence? Can we say what actually happened?
The evidence for the ‘trial’ of Jesus is very thin. It looks like there was a Jewish charge of blasphemy and a Roman charge of sedition. What is clear is that the accused offered no defence to any charge against him. What is less well recognised is that Socrates in substance offered no defence either. As a defence to either charge against Socrates, the Apology is demonstrably fallacious in logic. Socrates then invited the death penalty by his submission on penalty.
The book aims to be an independent analysis of the evidence and law and the procedure for each trial by a practising lawyer who does not profess any relevant faith. The final appendix gives extracts from books of two distinguished judges on either side – Christian and Jewish - which accounts are obviously disfigured by bias.
The work is fully annotated. It is about 71,000 words

Product Details

BN ID:	2940046013979
Publisher:	Geoffrey Gibson
Publication date:	06/14/2014
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	341 KB

About the Author

Geoffrey Gibson is an Australian writer living with the Wolf - his dog - in a kind of rural peace one hour out of Melbourne, the home of his football team, the Melbourne Storm. He has practised law as either a member of the Bar or a major international law firm. He has presided over at least one statutory tribunal for nearly thirty years and he has conducted arbitrations or mediations in Australia and the U S. He has published five books before on the theory and practice of the law, A Journalist's Companion to Australian Law (Melbourne University Press); The Arbitrator's Companion (Federation Press); Law for Directors (Federation Press); The Making of a Lawyer (What They Didn't Teach You at Law School) (Hardie Grant); and The Common Law - A History (Australian Scholarly Publishing)). He is now focussing on writing in general history, philosophy, and literature, fields that he was trained in and that he has pursued over very many Summer Schools at Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford universities. His twelve eBooks so far published include five volumes of A History of the West - The Ancient West; The Medieval West; The West Awakes; Revolutions in the West; and Twentieth Century West; Confessions of a Babyboomer; Confessions of a Barrister; Parallel Trials, Socrates and Jesus; The English Difference, The Tablets of their Laws; The German Nexus, The Germans in English History; The Humility of Knowledge, Five Geniuses and God; and Windows on Shakespeare. The photo is not great, but at least the Wolf comes out OK.