The Opelousas courier., 1902-08-30
KISSING THE BOOK.
A Rel:o of the Time When kissing Was

A Relic of the Time When kissing Was
General in Merry England.
Sir Francis Jeune and Mr.. Justice
Gorell Barnes have had posted out
side the two courts of the probate, di-
vorce and admiralty division notices
to witnesses calling their attention to
the fact that they may be sworn in
the Scotch manner before giving evil
dence. That is to say, they may be
sworn with uplifted hand repeating a
solemn invocation to the Deity, instead
Of taking a book and kissing 1t after
listening to a form repeated by a mi"
nor official of the court. The notice
to which we refer Is repeated outside
one Of the courts Of the chancery di-
vision and we have every hope that it
may become universal.
We have for many years commended
that the oath by kissing a book has
nothing to commend 1t. while 1t Is
nasty and may become a means OF
propagation of disease; and we have
seen with regret that the statutory
permission to swear in the Scotch fash
ion was, as a rule, not known by
witnesses and frequently, also, that
judges, oroners md magistrates were
ignorant of it.
The form of swearing by kissing a
book is purify one Of custom. There
is no direcaa authority for it in any act
Of p~arliarRent, or ruiz, or book OF
practice The date also of its intro
| duction tbs unknown, but this is not
/ BECAUSE 1t has been lost in the mists
of antiquity for 1t Is FAIRLY certain
that, 70 recently as at the eid OF the
.tl7tb aeentury, II the form existed it
Was not in any general use. 1t has
| been pointed out that Coke in his in
| stitutes makes no mention of kissing
| the book but writes of the corporal
| oath" as thus named because the wit
| ness touched with his hand a portion
| Of the Scriptures, and this aspect OF
| the oath no doubt survives in the
familiar warning Of the usher to the
witness to remove the glove before
taking the Testament for the purpose
of kissing it. 1t is also observed that
In the Book of Oaths," of which On
edition was published in 1859, there
is no mention of kissing a book. How
the kissing originated Is, we believe.
almost as much a matter OF specula-
ton as is the date at which 1t became
frequent or universal.
The laying of the hand on the Cos
pels in swearing is, no doubt, of great
antiquity, while the laying Of the
hand on the altar of a deity in invok'
ing the deity to witness a statemen,
or promise is older than the Gospels
The laying of the hand on the Cos
pels has it's parallel in other countries
besides England. The kissing Of the
book is, however, we believe, pecu'
liar to England, or to England ant
ireland, and it is not quite easy t
assign its origin to the kissing of rel
les when we apparently find it intro
duced in England after all veneratio1
for relics had been swept away ant
made illegal.
1t is worth noting that English PEG
pie were more addicted to kissing one;
than they are now. Kissing as a forn
of salutation was sc common among
them that it excited the interest AM
amusement Of foreigners. Erasmu
refers to 1t and a Hungarian gentle
man who visited London and move
in good society in 1868 was mucI
struck with the way in which me-
kissed ladies when they greeted Their
where Hungarians would have shake
hands. Even Frenchmen in the mid
die ages held kissing a a peculiar1t
of the English nation, much as we re
mark upon it now among the French
It is, therefore, at least possible tina
the kiss bestowed upon the book i
taking an oath may have been not s
much a kiss OF veneration as a forr
Of salutation or acknowledgment b
bodily contact, somewhat o cere
monious than manual contact, bu
still not associated with any grea
feeling of solemnity.-The Lancet.
rA.~Gn a