Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-06-21
KISSING THE BOOK.
A Relic of the Time When Kissino Was
General in Merry England.

Sir Francis Jeune and Mr.. Justice
Gorell Barnes have had posted Noutside
the two courts of the Probate. Divorce.
and Admiralty Division notices ia VIII
nesses calling their attention to the fact
that they may be sworn in the scotch
manner before giving evidence Tia
is To say. they may he sworn with m
lifted hand repeating solemn invoca-
ton to the Diety, instead of talSin,y =
book and kissing it after listeninn IA 4.
form repeated by a minor official of
the court. Tho notice to which we refer
is repeated outside one of the courts of
the Chancery Division and we have
every hope that it may become
universal.
We have for many years commended
that the oath by kissing book has
nothing to commend it, while it is nasty
and may become q means of propar.-
ton of disease; and we have seen with
regret that the statutory permission To
swear in the Scotch fashion was. as a
rule. not known by Witnesses ana fire.
Quently, also, that Judges. Coroners.
and Magistra ties were ignorant Of il.
The form Of swearing by kissing n
DcON IL BuIttS Vic vi CUSTOM. IneIe
is no direct authority for it i'll any act
of Parliament, or rule, or book of prac-
tice. The date also Of its introduction
is unknown, but this is not because it
has been lost in the mists OF antiquity.
for it is fairly certain that so recently
us at the end of the seventeenth cen
fury if tie form existed it was noc in
any general Use. 1t has been pointed
out that Coke in his Institutes makes
no mention Of kissing the book bnt
writes OF the "corpral cath as thus
named because the witness touched
with his handa portion of the Scriptures.
ana this aspect of the oath no
doubt survives in the familiar warming
Of the usher to the witness to remove
the glove before taking the testament
for the purpose Of kissing 49, II is also
observed that in the "Book Of Oaths,"
Of which IN edition was published in
1859. there IS u0 mention OF kissing i
book. How the ilissing originated is:
Wc believe. almost rs much a matter Of
spccuia ton rs Is the date mt which it
became frequent or universal.
The laying az he hand on the Gospels
in swearing is no doubt, of great
on the altar of deity in invoking the
deity to witness a statement or promise
is older than the Gospels. The laying
Of the hand on the Gospels has its
parallel III other countries besides Eng
land. The kissing Of the book is, how
ever, we believe peculiar to England.
on to England aui Ireland, and it is not
quite easy To- assign its origin to the
kissing Of relics when we apparently
find it introduced in England after all
Hcnerati0n for relics had been swept
away and made Illegal.
1t is worth noting that English people
wore more addicted to kissing once
than they are now. kissing as a form of
was SO common among them
that it excited the interest and anusa- |
mont of foreigners. Erasmus refers to |
il and a Hungarian gentleman who |
visited LCndop ara moved in good So
ciety in 1868 was much struck with tho |
way in which men kissed ladies whom !
they gIccted thcm where Hung2riana !
would have shaken hands. Even |
Frenchr1cn in the Middle Ages held |
kissing us It regularity of the English /
nltion, much as We remark upon it
now among the French. i is, there
fore, nj lctl@t possible that the kiss he
slowed Uron the book in taking an
oath may have been not 50 much kiss
Of vcn,ration as a form OF salutation
or acI>nol, ledemenf by bodily contact,
somewhat more ceremonious than man
ual contact, but still not associated
with any great feeling OF solemnity.-
Lancet.