WAGER Or LAW. In Old Practice.
An oath taken by a defendant in an action of debt that he does not owe the claim, sup ported by the oaths of eleven neighbors.
When an action of debt is brought against a man upon a simple contract, and the defendant pleads nil debit, and concludes his plea with this plea, with this formula, "And this he is ready to defend against him the said A B and his snit, as the court of our lord the king here shall consider," etc., he is then put in sureties (vadioa) to wage kie /aw on a day appointed by the judge. The wager of law oonsists in an oath taken by the defendant on the appointed day, and oonfirmed by the oaths of eleven neighbors or corapurgatore. This oath bad tbe effect of a verdict in favor of the defendant, and was only allowed in the actions of debt on simple contract, and detinue ; nor was it allowed to any one not of good character. In consequence of this privilege of the defendant, aseumpeit displaces debt as a form of aotion on simple contracts, and instead of detinue, trover was used. But in Eog land wager of law was abolished by 3 & 4 Will.
IV. c. 42, 0 13. And aven hefora its abolition it had fallen into disuse. It was last used as a method of defence in 2 Barnew. & C. 538, whera the defend ant offered to waga his law, hnt the plaintiff aban doned the oase. This was in 1824. If it aver had any existence in the United States, it is now com pletely abolished. 8 Wheat. 642.
The name (in law Latin, vadiatio legie) comes from the defendant's being put in pledges (vadioe) to make his oath on the appointed day. There was a similar oath in the Roman law, and in the laws of most of tho nations that converuci Rome. It was vary early in use in England, as Glanville distinctly describes it. Glanville, lib. 1, o. 9, 12. See Stephen, Plead. 124, 250, and notes xxxix. ; Coke, 2d Inst. 119 ; Mod. Entr. 179; Lilly, Entr. 467; 3 Chitty, Plead. 497; 13 Viner, Ahr.58; Bacon, Abr.; Dane, Abr. Index. For the origin of this form of trial, see Stephen, Plead. notes xxxix .; Coke, Litt. 394, 305; 3 Sharswood, Blackst. Comm. 341.