Sec. 87. Standing for law. "Shy. Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall To cureless ruin.-I stand here for law." In keeping with the whole course of Shylock's conduct, before and during the trial of the issue of the legality of observes that the Poet might very properly have invoked the chancery process of injunction to relieve against the enforcement of this penalty of the bond, as this procedure was then recognized by the English Court of Chancery, but of course if this were true-which the history of the Chancery Court establishes-an English Court would have had no jurisdiction of an action in a Venetian State, so this observation would not have furnished the Poet with a much better remedy than the subterfuge he adopted to let Antonio escape from the obligation of his bond. Shylock's plea for his bond, is further set out in this play, as follows: "Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats, were in six parts, and every part a ducat, I would not draw them; I would have my bond." (Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I.) And again, he said: "Proceed to judgment: by my soul, I swear, There is no power in the tongue of man, to alter me: I stay here on my bond." (Act IV, Scene I.) Dromio said to his master, in Comedy of Errors: "Dro. Master, I am here entered in bond for you." (Act IV, Scene IV.) Angelo, tells the Merchant, in Comedy of Errors: "Ang. . Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house, I will discharge my bond and thank you, too." (Act IV, Scene I.) In King Richard II, the following occurs between the Duke of York and the Duchess: 'Tis nothing but some bond that he has enter'd into For gay apparel, 'gainst the triumph day. York. Bound to himself? What doth he with a bond (Act V, Scene II.) The Senator tells Caphis, in Timon of Athens: "Sen. Take the bonds along with you and have the dates in compt." II, Scene I.) (Act And on presentation of the bonds. Timon said: "Tim. How goes the world that I am thus encountered with clamorous demands of date broke bonds." (Act II, Scene II.) 1 Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I. his bond, this declaration of his intention to "stand for law," shows the basic faith in the majesty of law, which ought to have had a better reward, according to the standard erected by the judge who first recognized his claim, then set at naught this recognized legal right. Placing his faith in the law alone, he withstood the taunts of those who scorned him, without swerving from his purpose to enforce his rights, through the medium of the law alone. While seeking an unrighteous purpose. he was willing to conform his actions and his will to the law, relying upon the constant and perpetual will, on the part of those administering the law, to render unto every man his due. In other words, he stood "for law," and regardless of his illusion, as to the justness of his cause, his attitude can but commend his action, to those who appreciate the majesty of the law. Sec. 88. Seal. "Shy. Till thou can'st rail the seal from off my bond. Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud.”” In these lines Shylock expressed the preference that his debt held, under the English law, because of the seal attached, over debts not so evidenced. A bond or other 'This is really justice, nothing more nor less. Justinian, Inst. b. 1, tit. 1; Coke, 2' Inst. 56; Touillier, Droit, Civ. Fr. tit. prel. n. 5. Falstaff makes the following reference to the law, in a colloquy with Prince Henry: "Fal. ... pr'ythee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution, thus fobbed as it is, with the rusty curb of old father antic the law?" (1' Henry IV, Act I, Scene II.) In refusing the plea of Alcibiades for his client, in Timon of Athens, the Senator tells him: "1 Sen. We are for law, he dies: urge it no more, on height of our displeasure: Friend or brother, be forfeits his own blood, that spills another." (Act III. Scene V.) Timon of Athens, tell the thieves who come to him. in the forest: "Tim. The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power, Have uncheck'd theft." (Act IV. Scene III.) 2 Merchant of Venice. Act IV, Scene I. writing, under seal, was called a specialty contract, to distinguish it from other writings or contracts, not bearing a scal. A specialty debt, such as a bond under seal, in the event of the debtor's death, prior to 1870, when such preference was abolished, had the right of prior payment over simple contract debts.2 The Anglo-Saxons affixed the cross, but the Normans introduced the custom of scaling all specialty contracts with seals of wax and the execution of written instruments after the conquest was accompanied with various circumstances of solemnity. such as sealing, dating, attesting and otherwise evidencing the execution of the instrument by the parties thereto.3 These seals of wax were of various colors and were gencrally round or oval and were affixed to a label on the parchment or to a silk string fastened to a fold at the bottom of the writing or to a slip of the parchment, cut from the writing and made pendulous to impart greater character to the document. The distinction, while obtaining, in the Poet's time, in law, between sealed and unsealed instruments, has been largely, by statute, abolished in England at the present day, as well as in the United States. 'Lawson, on Contracts (2nd Ed.). Ante Idem. Bishop, Contracts; Beach, Mod. Law Contracts. I Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 337. 4 Mad. Form. Diss. 26; I Reeve's History Eng. Law, 337. Lawson, Contracts, supra. Ante idem. In King John, the Arch Duke of Austria said to Arthur: "Upon thy cheek I lay this zealous kiss, A seal to this indenture of my love." (Act II, Scene I.) King John is made to say, replying to Hubert: "Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did. K. John. O, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal (Act IV, Scene III.) In King Richard II, the Duke of York said to his son: "York. What seal is that, that hangs without thy bosom? Yea, look'st thou pale? let me see the writing." (Act V, Scene 11.) Sec. 89. Moiety. "Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face.Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice And where thou now exact'st the penalty But touched with human gentleness and love, This appeal for mercy, whereby the Duke appeals to Shylock to forego the penalty of his bond and accept the money, or forego a "moiety of the principal" is in keeping with the whole scope of the Poet's treatment of this trial. Instead of regarding the contract as void, because of its illegality, to obtain the better effect and reach the climax of the judgment scene, the Poet treats the bond as legal and the penalty as collectible. This better shows the true character of the Jew, whose rights are trampled under foot for the dramatic effect of the trial scene, after being judicially recognized by the Court, by the subterfuge on Portia's part. Is not this a And Cade says, in 2' Henry VI: "Cade. lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb, should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say, the bee stings: but I say, 'tis the beeswax, for I did but seal once to a thing and I was never my own man since." (Act IV, Scene VII.) The wicked Queen Margaret takes her farewell from Suffolk, in 2' Henry VI, as follows: “Q. Mar... O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand, That thou might'st think upon these by the seal." (Act III, Scene II.) Coriolanus tells the Citizens, from whom he seeks support: "Cor. I will not seal your knowledge, with showing them. I will make much of your voices and so trouble you no further." (Act II, Scene III.) 'Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I. "Moiety," in law, is the half of any thing, as where a testator bequeathes one "moiety" of his estate to one person and another to another, each will take a half thereof. The "principal" of this obligation, was, of course, the sum originally loaned, less the interest or damages, due because of the breach. These terms are purely legal in their scope and illustrate the familiarity of the Poet with the lexicon of the law. 'Littleton, 125. 2 Bouvier's Law Dictionary. In All's Well That Ends Well (Act III, Scene III), the Countes Isaid to Helena: "Count. I pr'ythee, lady, have a better cheer; If thou engrossest, all the griefs are thine, Leontes, in Winter's Tale, said: "Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest, might come to me again." (Act II, Scene III.) And Hermione, the good queen, said: "A fellow of the roya! bed, which owe, a moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter." (Winter's Tale, Act III, Scene II.) (Act And, in the same play, Autolycus said to the Shepard: "Well, give me the moiety:-are you a party in this business." IV, Scene III.) Speaking of the unequal division of his part of the country to be conquered, Hotspur is made to say, to Glendower and Mortimer, in 1' Henry IV: "Hot. Methinks, my moiety, north from Burton here, in quantity equals not one of yours." (Act III, Scene I.) Henry V, in wooing Katharine of France, said: "K. Hen. do but now promise Kate, you will endeavor for your French part of such a boy; and, for my English moiety, take the word of a king and bachelor." (Act V, Scene II.) Richard soliloquizes, in King Richard III: "Glo. On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety? On me, that halt, and am misshapen thus?" (Act I, Scene II.) The Duchess of York, on learning of Clarence's death. said to her daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, in Richard III: “Duch. . O, what cause have I (Thine being but a moiety of my grief), To over-go thy plaints, and drown thy cries." (Act II, Scene II.) Replying to the suit of Queen Katherine, in King Henry VIII, |