He outlawed using torture ‘even against poor people’

Louis’s approach to justice was undoubtedly advanced for his time. He outlawed using torture ‘even against poor people’ in Languedoc because it induced false confessions, and he forbade deciding cases through judicial duel in his own lands, instructing his officers to consult witnesses and documents instead of having the parties square off. But Louis made these changes not only because he wanted his courts to use a better standard of proof, but also because he abhorred violence (between Christians anyway).

J. Firnhaber-Baker, House of Lilies: The Dynasty that Made Medieval France (2024), loc. 4,171