"Long. O, some authority how to proceed,

Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil." "Quillet," is no doubt derived from quidlibet, meaning what you please. A subtle, nice point of law, is referred to as a "quillet" and the term is used as a synonym for quibble. The thought of the player is that the violation of the oath was without excuse and unless by some trick, or quibble, they could avoid it, the devil would be rewarded for their transgression. Of course a "quillet" or quibbles is generally a cavil raised without necessity and it may be doubted, from a professional standpoint, if any lawyer is justified in causing such questions, in an argument.

The king tells his wife, in Hamlet, in regard to Laertes threats: "Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person; There's such divinity doth hedge a king,

That treason can but peep to what it would,

Acts little of his will." (Act IV, Scene V.) Referring to the pure Lucrece, and Tarquin's attack upon her chastity, the Poet said, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"The dove sleeps fast that this night-owl will catch: Thus treason works, ere traitors be espied." (360, 361.)

'Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, Scene III.

:Webster's Dictionary.

'Bouvier's Law Dictionary. Mr. Bouvier says: "No justly eminent member of the bar will resort to a quibble in his argument. It is contrary to his oath, which is to be true to the court, as well as to his client; and bad policy, because by resorting to it, he will lose his character as a man of probity."

Warwick, in replying to Somerset's request to judge between himself and Richard Plantagenet, in 1' Henry VI, said: "War. I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment; But in these nice, sharp quillets of the law,

Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw." (Act II, Scene IV.) Suffolk thus urges the death of the good Gloster, in 2' Henry VI: “Suff... And do not stand on quillets, how to slay him:

Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety,

Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how,
So he be dead, for that is good deceit."

(Act III, Scene 1.)

Sec. 78. Statute-caps.—

"Rosaline. Well, better wits have worn plain statute-caps. But will you hear? the king is my love sworn."1 During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was not infrequent that laws were passed ostensibly for the betterment of the general class of citizens but really favorable to some particular class. In the year 1571 an act of Parliament was passed in the interest of the trade of cappers, which required all citizens, other than the nobility, and those excepted, to wear woolen caps on Sundays and holidays, under the pain and penalties of the statute.2

As this law only required the citizens or common people to wear woolen caps, the meaning is plain, that better wits could be found among the plain people than the King and his followers.

Timon of Athens, said, "Tim. Crack the lawyer's voice, That he may never more false titles plead, Nor sound his quillets shrilly." (Act IV, Scene III.)

In Hamlet, when the Prince comes upon the grave diggers and he talks of the skull of the supposed lawyer, he speaks of "his quiddits, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks." (Act V, Scene I.)

In the controversy with the Clown, in Othello, the Moor of Venice, Cassio is made to say: "Pr'ythee, keep up thy quillets." (Act III, Scene I.)

'Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene II.

V Reeve's History English Law, 238; Rolfe's Love's Labour's Lost, p. 205, notes.

"Bass. To you, Antonio, I owe the most, in money and in love;

And from your love I have a warranty,
To unburthen all my plots and purposes,
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.”1

A "warranty," in real property, was a covenant, where by the grantor of an estate of freehold was bound to war

Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene II.

rant the title and either upon voucher or upon eviction, to yield lands of an equal value with those from which the tenant was evicted. In the old practice, the warrantor was called into court, by the party warranted to defend the suit for him and the time for the voucher was after the demandant had counted. The thought expressed by Bassanio is that the love of Antonio was to stand sponsor for all his debts or that by his love his debts were to be warranted.

Sec. 80. Breach of bond-penalty for.

"Ant.

If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not
As to thy friends (for when did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?)

But lend it rather to thine enemy;

Who, if he break, thou may'st with better face
Exact the penalty."

1:3

It was remarked by Lord Bacon, in one of his Essays,* that people were wont to say that it was "against nature, for money to beget money"; Antonio expresses this same thought in his philosophy that friendship would not exact a breed "for barren metal." He asked no special favor or courtesy, but only that in case he failed to keep his bond, that the penalty be exacted.

A penalty is the undertaking to pay an additional sum of money or to submit to punishment of a certain kind, if there shall be a failure to fulfill the contract obligation." The term is mostly applied to pecuniary punishment." but may as well include the corporal punishment included in the obligation of this bond, in case of a breach of its condition.

'Coke, Litt. 365a.

Coke, Litt. 101b.

3 Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene III.

Civil & Moral Essay, No. 41.

5 Bouvier's Law Dictionary.

S Comyns Dig. 846.

Sec. 81. Sealing a written instrument.

"Shy. Go with me to a notary; seal me there
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,
In such a place, such sum, or sums, as are
Expressed in the condition, let the forfeit,
Be nominated for an equal pound

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.
Ant. Content, in faith: I'll seal to such a bond,
And say, there is much kindness in the Jew,
Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond."i

The distinction between a singular bond and a regular bond with principal and surety, in common form, is recognized by the Poet in Shylock's request for a "single bond," but in demanding the sealing of such bond, the English legal requisite to a valid specialty contract is likewise recognized. The novelty of making written instruments with seals of wax and other ceremonies, was introduced into England by the Normans. Such instruments were originally brought into court; either the king's court, the court of the county, or into some assembly and there the act of making and acknowledging the instrument was performed. When the instruments were not executed in this public manner, they were usually attested by men of character and prominence, or by officers of the king, notaries, or such like, or by the mayor, bailiff or some such civil officer. The "condition" of a bond is that part which specifies the agree

'Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene III.

'I Reeve's History English Law, p. 336.

'In practice, a wafer or seal was attached to the end of the writing, and the party who executed it, after his signature put his finger on the seal and said: "I deliver this as my act and deed." at the same time handing the writing over. Mad Form. Biss. 26; 1 Reeves History Eng. Law, p. 337.

'I Reeve's History Eng. Law, 337.