Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-04-25
ODD LEGAL suPERsTlTIoNs
Many Curious swvivaIs Of the Anoi.
ent Law Customs.

Many Curious SurvivaIs Of the Anei-
ent Law Customs.
We hear much of the superstitions
pertaining to certain forms Of religion
and Of their somewhat remarkable
persistence in materialistic II not
skeptical age, survival that is but in
completely explained by the difficulty
Of differentiating faith from credulity,
or by the tendency-old as the human
races-to attribute natural phenome-
ma to supernatural causes and to mag
nily both by tradition. Though not
so much discussed, the law also has
its little superstitions Notwithstanding
the prevalent conception Of that sci
ence as cold, Unconditional and severely
logical.
FOR instance, what useful purpose Is
served by inserting in bond, condi-
toned for the payment Of money, a
penal sum Of twice the amount Of the
actual debt? Bonds have been thus
drawn since the days Of Lord Coke,
and the printed forms In use today
contain the ancient penal clause. BY
the letter Of such bond the obligee Is
clearly entitled to recover the full Pc
paying the sum specified in the condi-
tion. But has the obligee, for these
two or three hundred years, ever been
allowed to recover more than the act
tual debt with interest and costs?
BY another common practice deeds
are made to recite that the grant Is
made Sin consideration Of the sum Of
81, good and lawful money Of the
United States Of America, to me in
hand paid, the receipt whereof here
by acknowledge" or some equivalent
formula. The idea that deed must
express q consideration Is ineradicable
and equally fixed appears to be the
superstition that consideration Of 81,
Is quite as effective as a consideration
commensurate with the value Of the
estate granted. Lawyers learned In
the law of real property know better,
of course, but such is the popular no.
ton. It Is elementary that as between
TIE parties, q deep is perfectly valid
without any consideration at all: 9TH
erwise there could be no such thing
as a conveyance by way Of gift.
Why do we begin a will with an in
vocation to the Diety, and g. recital
that the testator Is "of sound mind
and disposing memory% Does the
former aid the testator spiritually and
does the latter furnish any evidence
Of his testamentary capacity? And
why do we 80 often insist on attaching
a seal opposite the testator's sigma
ture? Our statutes do not require a
will to be sealed. wherefore the seal
is wholly superfluous, as the law books
have long advised us.
Then there Is the invariable custom
Of writing "ss' after the venue Of an
affidavit or an Acknowledgement.
What legal efficacy do these two let
ters possess? How many lawyers even
know what they mean? It Is only
lately, we believe, that the painstaking
author of a very useful little book sue
ceeded, after much antiquarian re-
search among the pipe rolls and other
interesting lore, in ascertaining the
original significance Of the abbrevia-
ton, which is ''scilicet," or ito wit"
The omission Of the letters Is now
quite immaterial.
Many generations of lawyers learn
ed in equity pleading, have followed
the ancient practice Of concluding
bill Of complaint with the solemn as
surance, "And thus your orator Will
ever pray, &C." Apparently no mod
ern lawyer knew what the decaudated
formula meant, until recently a we'll
known author ran the thing to Its lair
among the ancient rolls Of the court
of chancery and found that (before
It lost its tail) 1t was prayer for the
health and longevity Of the king!
These are only q few Of the supersti-
tions that have survived the days
when the trial by battle and the GRIM
inality of witchcraft were finally elm
mated from that law which Is our
proud heritage and which has been SO
fondly praised as "the perfection OF
human reason."-Bench and Bar.