Peine forte et dure, (Law French for 'strong and hard punishment') was formerly a method of torture in the common law legal system, where the defendant who refused to plead would be subjected to having subsequently larger stones pressed upon the chest until a plea was entered, or as the weight of the stones on the chest became too great for the victim to breathe, the victim would suffocate.
The common law courts originally took a very limited view of their own jurisdiction. They imagined themselves to lack jurisdiction over a defendant until he had voluntarily submitted to it by entering a plea seeking judgment from the court. Obviously, a criminal justice system that only punished those who volunteered for punishment was unworkable; this was the means chosen to coerce them.
Many defendants charged with capital offences nonetheless refused to plea, since thereby they would escape forfeiture of property, and their heirs would still inherit their estate; but if the defendant plead guilty and was executed, their heirs would inherit nothing, their property escheating to the Crown. But today in all common law jurisdictions a defendant who refuses to enter a plea has a plea of not guilty entered for them on their behalf.
Death by crushing or pressing, as a method of execution, has a long and bloody history, and the techniques to achieve this end varied greatly from place to place.
The most famous victim in the United Kingdom was the Catholic martyr Saint Margaret Clitherow, who was pressed to death on March 25, 1586, after refusing to plead to the charge of having harboured priests in her house (in order to avoid a trial in which her own children would be obliged to give evidence).
The most famous victim of peine forte et dure in American history was Giles Corey, who was pressed to death on September 19, 1692, during the Salem witch trials, after he refused to enter a plea in the judicial proceeding.
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