It was used, for instance, as a punishment for a husband and wife where the woman nagged and physically abused the man - in other words, "wore the trousers". It was used when a wife was believed to have committed adultery; it was used, as in the Aveton Gifford case, when a couple lived together but were not believed to be married to one another.

In Medieval times, the offenders were dragged from their homes and forced to ride back to back through the village on a donkey. As time went by, the live couple were replaced by very life-like effigies which would be taken to some prominent spot in the village and burnt. There are records of huge crowds taking part in such events, many of whom would have been considered to  be the village gentry; the crowd shouted and screamed abuse, directing it at the couple in question and there were even occasions when the Military had to be called out and the Riot Act read before the crowd broke up and went home to bed.

The defendants must have been charged by at least one local magistrate who took a great deal of time and trouble collecting their names and issuing the writs which brought them before the court. The proceedings were entered in a Process Book but the entry appears to be unfinished and it looks as though there was never a formal judgement - perhaps the court remembered the remaining 100+ people (presumably of lesser rank) who were not present to answer the charge and considered that those who were present might think carefully before putting themselves in such jeopardy again.

Those who pleaded Not Guilty are marked "Tr" in the list below. This was a formal oath of denial or "Traverse".

*Another such ride was depicted in The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.