WAGER OF LAW. In Old Practice. An. oath taken by a defendant in an action of debt that he does not owe the claim, support ed by the oaths of eleven neighbors.
When an action of debt Is brought against a man upon a eimple contract, and the defendant pleads nil debet, and concludes his plea with this formula, "And this be Is ready to defend against him the said A B and his suit, as the court of our lord the king here shall consider," etc., he Is then put in sureties (vadios) to wage his law on a day appointed by the judge. The wager of law consists in an oath taken by the defendant on the appointed day, and con firmed by the oaths of compurgators (which see). This oath had the effect of a verdict in favor of the defendant, and was only allowed in the actions of debt on simple contract, detinue and account ; nor was it allowed to any one not of good character, nor in criminal cases or cases in the Exchequer, nor when trespass, deceit or any forcible injury was alleged. In consequence of this privilege of the de fendant, assumpsit displaces debt as a form of ac tion on simple contracts, and instead of detinue, trover was used. But In England wager of law was abolished by 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 42, § 13. And even
before its abolition it had fallen into disuse. It was last used as a method of defence in 2 B. & C. 538, where the defendant offered to wage his law, but the plaintiff abandoned the case. This was in 1824. If it ever had any existence in the United States, it is now completely abolished ; Childress v. Emory, 8 Wheat. (U. S.) 642, 5 L. Ed, 705.
The name (in law Latin, vadiatio legis) comes from the defendant's being put in pledgee (vadia) to appear on a given day with his "oath-helpers." Jenks, Hist. E. L. 46; to make his oath on the ap pointed day. It was very early in use in England, as Glanville distinctly describes it. Glanville, lib. 1, c. 9, 12. See Steph. P1.'124, 250; Co. 2d Inst. 119; 2 Chitty, Pi. 497 ; 13 Viner, Abr. 58 ; Bac. Abr. 1 Holdaw. Hist. E. L. 138 ; Thayer, Evid. 25 ; Pike, Y. B. 16 Edw. III (II) (R. S.) XVIII. For the origin of this form of trial, see Steph. Plead. notes xxxix.; Co. Litt. 394, 395 ; 3 Bla. Com. 341.
See OATH DECISOBY; COMPURGATOR; GOD AND MY COUNTRY.