Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/578

 Oaths. ers. Concerning the bracelet oath, Sir Henry Ellis has observed that Arngrim Jonas, in his work on Iceland, describes a bracelet of twenty ounces' weight, which was kept upon the altar, and, being sprinkled with the blood of victims, was touched by those who took any solemn oaths. Swearing on the cross was practised by the Russians from early times; thus in 1557, on the conclusion of a treaty of peace with Sweden, Ivan ratified it by kissing the cross before the eyes of the ambassadors, — a cere mony that was repeated by his representa tive at Stockholm in the presence of the Swedish monarch. Selden mentions an oath taken by the Spaniards, which is very curious : " If I first designedly fail of this oath on that day, ye Powers above, torment me — my body in this life and my soul in the next — with horrid tor tures. May my strength and my words fail. In battle let my horse and arms and spurs and subjects fail me, when need is sorest." This oath was confirmed by the parties sharing between them the consecrated wafer. The " oath by the bosom," formerly ob served in Germany, had a curious and in teresting origin. Women and boys were generally accustomed to carry on their bosom, suspended from the neck, a small copy of the Gospel; so the hand, when laid upon the breast, was in reality laid upon the Gospel. Chrysostom mentions a similar custom as prevailing in his time. A curious custom observed on taking an oath in the Mine Court of the Forest of Dean, dating apparently from the thirteenth

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century, and continued until the middle of the eighteenth, is thus related : " The wit nesses in giving evidence wore their caps, to show that they were free miners, and took the usual oath, touching the Book of the Four Gospels with a stick of holly, so as not to soil the sacred volume with their miry hands." A Hindoo saying is: "Let a judge swear a Brahmin by his veracity; a soldier by his horses, his elephants, or his arms; an agri culturist by his cows, his grain, or his money; and a Soudra by all his crimes." In some respects these are similar to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Chinese have a curious mode of oathtaking. Some years ago two Chinese sailors were examined at the Thames police-court on the charge of assaulting one of their countrymen. The complainant was exam ined according to the practice of his country. A Chinese saucer was given to him, and another to the interpreter, and they both advanced to the window, directing their eyes to heaven, and repeating in their own tongue the following words : " In the face of God I break this saucer : if it comes together again, Chinaman has told a lie, and expects not to live five days; if it remain asunder, Chinaman has told the truth, and escapes the vengeance of the Almighty." They then smashed the saucer in pieces on the floor, and returned to be examined. The Mohammedans do not employ adju rations in their judicial proceedings, but re gard deliberate perjury, even when extra judicially committed, as incurring God's vengeance. — All the Year.