"Criminal justice
Evidence The Egyptian obsession for keeping records was often useful against criminals. One could not own slaves without registering them with the authorities. The problem for the judge was to discover the source of the money. A resident of Thebes, Ari-Nofer was asked: What do you say about the silver your husband Penhesi brought home? To which she replied: I did not see it. The question How were the slaves bought that were with him? she answered with I did not see the silver with which he paid their price. When he was on the way, they were with him. She explained the source of the silver which Penhesi left with Sobekmesef by saying I acquired it with the barley during the year of the hyaenas, when there was a famine. And no wrong-doing on her part could be proved.
Coercion
Beatings, certainly of common criminals, were a tried and proven way for eliciting if not the truth then at least a confession.
Amenpenofer, the grave robber, was beaten, and then he admitted to having committed further robberies, among them in the tomb of the Third Prophet of the God with four new associates.
The threat of a beating or mutilation were sometimes hoped to prevent false witness
Even witnesses not accused of any wrong-doing were at times beaten. Nesuamon, a priest, and Wenpehti, both sons of accused tomb robbers and at the time of the alleged crimes both children, were examined by beating with a rod and Wenpehti, who was merely a weaver, received a bastinado to his feet and hands [19].
Confession
The confession was the base for a conviction. Circumstantial evidence, witnesses and torture were means for achieving this confession. When the accused despite everything refused to confess, he was sometimes given the opportunity to have a witness speak in his favour, or as happened more rarely, he was released."
"In his edict Horemheb laid down some harsh penalties. Anybody guilty of preventing the free traffic on the Nile for instance was to have his nose cut off and be exiled to Tharu, called Rhinocolura by the Greeks for this reason, a town on the shores of the Mediterranean in the Sinai desert. The theft of hides was punishable by 100 blows and five open wounds. This was also the penalty for military men guilty of extortion from the common people. [10]
Seti tried to prevent officials from requesting illegal corvée work from the staff at his temple at Abydos and confiscating the trading goods from Nubia carried on the Nile. They were to be given 100 lashes, had to return the stolen goods and pay fines worth a hundred times the amount of their theft. Disfigurement, like the cutting off of ears, and enslavement were also imposed.
The conspirators against Ramses III were dealt with harshly. Some were executed, others forced to commit suicide and some were mutilated."
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