countries, all proceedings conducted under the superintendence, or by the instrumentality, of any one from whom at his entrance upon office the law requires this oath, are declared null and void to all intents and purposes, should the taking of the oath have been neglected. Thus, in France, so universally were all public functionaries bound to take the oaths of office, that (what seems to have excited the admiration of the French law-writers,) even Peers were not exempt. This point was tried at Paris in 1735, on the translation of the Bishop of Laon to the archiepiscopal see of Cambrai; and the law was not altered by the Revolution, but still remains in force the same as before*. In that country, however, it has been ruled (in 1807,) that the oath needs not necessarily be retaken on the removal of an officer from one place to another, though the acts of any functionary who has not taken the prescribed oath at all are null.

*Répertoire de Jurisprudence.

SECTION N.

CORPORAL OATHS.

It was a matter of surprise to me, when I discovered the mistake into which such a man as Dr. Paley had been misled, on the interpretation of the phrase ' a corporal' oath. Like many others in different departments of literary research, he was betrayed by yielding too easily to one of those etymological temptations, the success of which is owing merely to the circumstance that they are new, and opposed to the more obvious and ordinary interpretation. His note is, "It is commonly thought that oaths are denominated corporal oaths, from the bodily action which accompanies them of laying the right hand upon a book containing the four Gospels. This opinion, however, appears to be a mistake, for the term is borrowed from the ancient usage of touching on these occasions the corporale or cloth which covered the consecrated elements." I am not aware from what source the archdeacon borrowed this ingenious piece of criticism, but I feel no hesitation in pronouncing that it is as unsound as it is ingenious. In the first place, I should say that the corporale, in Paley's interpretation of it, not to make a broader assertion than the subject requires,

the God Vitzilopuchtli, and after he had smoked him therewith he sate him down. Then came the HighPriest and took of him his oath to maintain the religion of the Gods, to keep also all the laws and customs of his predecessors, to maintain justice, and not to agraviate (oppress) any of his vassals or subjects, and that he should be valiant in the wars, that he should cause the sun to give his light, the clouds to yield rain, the rivers to run, and the earth to bring forth all kind of grain, fruits, and other needful herbs and trees." These and many other impossible things the new king did swear to perform, and then he gave thanks to the High-Priest and commended himself to the gods. Then all the people cried, "The gods preserve the new king."

There is a very curious oath on record, which Frederic the Second, in the year 1221, compelled all advocates to take. The law is couched in these terms :- "We will that the advocates to be ap

*

pointed, as well in our court as before the justices and bailiffs of the provinces, before entering upon their office, shall take their corporal oath on the Gospels, that the parties whose cause they have undertaken they will, with all good faith and truth, without any tergiversation, succour; nor will they allege any thing against their sound conscience; nor will they undertake desperate causes: and, should

* Constitution of Naples and Sicily, b. i. c. 82.

they have been induced, by misrepresentation and the colouring of the party to undertake a cause which, in the progress of the suit, shall appear to them, in fact or law, unjust, they will forthwith abandon it. Liberty is not to be granted to the abandoned party to have recourse to another advocate. They shall also swear that, in the progress of the suit, they will not require an additional fee, nor on the part of the suit enter into any compact; which oath it shall not be sufficient for them to swear once only, but they shall renew it every year before the officer of justice. And if any advocate shall attempt to contravene the aforesaid form of oath in any cause, great or small, he shall be removed from his office, with the brand of perpetual infamy, and pay three pounds of the purest gold into our treasury."

The next law forbids a barrister to require more for his services than one-sixtieth part of the sum in dispute, if that can be estimated; if not, as in criminal cases, the quantum of fee to be fixed at the discretion of the judge.

Though it does not bear upon the immediate subject of our inquiry, I shall be excused in citing a law of Charlemagne, which I accidentally found when in quest of these oaths; it is preserved in Muratori, whose observations are, as usual, not devoid of interest. By that law it is enacted, that "the judges should hear and determine all causes fasting, and that the Earl shall not hold his court

except fasting." "Whether," says Muratori, "Bacchus was held in great honour by the Germans at that time, as he is in ours, I leave others to inquire. At least it is evident from these laws, that in the age of Charlemagne, both the Franks, who were the rulers, and the Lombards, who were their subjects, both nations that had migrated from Germany into Italy, indulged in wine with no moderation or sobriety, so that that celebrated emperor deemed it necessary to forbid afternoon trials, and with all possible care to banish intoxication from the courts of justice."