of the term, if incorrect, would inevitably have
led to an acquittal, no one I think can doubt that Paley is in error.

In addition to the authorities I before referred to, I may mention that
Puffendorff clearly uses the term in the sense I attributed to it; and so
does Mr. Barbeyrac, in his note to "corporal oath," as used by Puffendorff,
where he says: "Juramentum corporale, or, as it is called in the code,
juramentum _corporaliter_ praestitum;" and then refers to a rescript of
Alexander, where the terms used are "jurejurando _corporaliter_ praestito."
(Puffendorff, _Law of Nature and Nations_, lib. iv. ss. 11. and 16., pp.
345. and 350.: London, 1729.) And it seems very probable that the term came
to us from the Romans; and as it appears from the books, referred to in the
notes to s. 16., that there were some instances in which an oath had been
taken by proxy, it may, perhaps, be that the term _corporal_ was originally
used to distinguish such oaths as were taken by the party himself from such
as were taken by proxy.

The word corporale plainly is the "_corporale_ Linteum," on which the
sacred elements were placed, and by which they were covered; and no doubt
were so used, because it covered or touched what was considered to be the
very body of our blessed Lord. In fact, the term is the same, whether it be
applied to oath or cloth; and when used with oath, it is used in the same
sense as our immortal bard uses it in "corporal suffering" and "corporal
toil."

S. G. C.

As the various forms in which oaths have been administered and taken is a
question not altogether devoid of interest, I would wish to add a few words
to what I have already written upon this subject. The earliest notice of
this ceremony is probably that which is to be found in Genesis xxiv. 2, 3.:

"And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over
all that he had. Put, I pray thee, _thy hand under my thigh_; And I
will make thee swear," &c.

That at a very early period the soldier swore by his sword, is shown by the
Anglo-Norman poem on the conquest of Ireland by Henry II., published by
Thomas Wright, Esq.: London, 1837, p. 101.:

"Morice par sa espe ad jure,
N' i ad vassal si ose."

In a charter of the thirteenth century, made by one Hugh de Sarnefelde to
the Abbey of Thomascourt in Dublin, of a certain annuity, we find the
passage:

"Et sciendum quod jam dictus Adam de Sarnefelde _affidavit in manu_