Prospero Farinacci
Giuseppe Cesari detto il Cavalier d'Arpino (1568-1640) Rome, Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo

 Pennington, "Torture in the Ius commune,"  Mélanges en l'honneur d'Anne Lefebvre-Teillard, ed. Bernard d'Alteroche, Florence Demoulin-Auzary, Olivier Descamps, Franck Roumy (Paris: 2009) 813-838  

1. Evidence must be legitimate, probable, grave, and sufficient --- the judge must be almost certain of guilt

2. Even with his "absolute power," prince may not mandate torture without sufficient proofs

3. If a judge threatens a defendant with torture --- that is torture

4.  Before ordering someone to be tortured a judge must set a term for  defendants to make their defense and provide them with the accusations and evidence against them

5. When the proofs are sufficient a defendant should be convicted and not tortured

6. Many persons are exempted from torture: nobles, pregnant women, minors.  The prince may grant permission to order the torture of a noble person

Pennington, "Women on the Rack:  Torture and Gender in the Ius commune," Recto ordine procedit magister: Liber amicorum E.C. Coppens, edited by Jan Hallebeek . Louis Berkvens, Jan Hallebeek, Georges Martyn (Iuris Scripta Historica 28; Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1212) 243-257