One is said to "depose," when he testifies under oath, or gives his deposition. Before a witness testifies, he is deposed, or sworn to tell the truth in the cause before the court. In other words, when a party to a cause is called as a witness and at common law a party in interest was incompetent as a witness-he was deposed, "according to our law," as the king directs the marshal, in this verse.

Sec. 191. Trial by battle.—

"Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore com'st thou hither,

Before king Richard, in his royal lists?

Against whom comest thou; and what's thy quarrel?
Speak, like a true knight, so defend thee heaven.
Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby,
Am I; who ready here do stand in arms,

To prove, by heaven's grace and my body's valour,
In lists, on Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,
That he's a traitor, foul and dangerous,

To God of heaven, king Richard and to me;
And, as I truly fight, defend me heaven.

K. Rich. We will descend, and fold him in our arms,
Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right,

So be thy fortune in this royal fight:
Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.

Nor. (Rising) However heaven, or fortune cast my lot,
There lives or dies, true to king Richard's throne,
A loyal, just and upright gentleman:
Never did captive with a freer heart,
Cast off his chains of bondage and embrace
His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement,
More than my dancing soul doth celebrate
This feast of battle with mine adversary.

13 Greenl. Evid., sec. 11.

Depose, is used here in an entirely different sense than it is in the Act where Northumberland urges King Richard to confess his crimes, so that the souls of men may deem that he was "worthily deposed." (King Richard II, Act IV, Scene I.)

K. Rich. Farewell, my lord; securely I espy,

Virtue with valour couched in thine eye,-
Order the trial, Marshall, and begin."

1

In the old English law, issues in both civil and criminal cases were settled, at an early day, by the "trial by battle," which had its basis upon the supposition that heaven would always interpose and give the victory to the champion of truth and innocence. The right to such a trial could be claimed at the election of the accused person, by the plea of not guilty and by declaring his readiness to make good his plea by his body. When such a right was claimed, the accuser had to make good his appeal and meet the accused in mortal combat. A Court was erected for the judges and after certain preliminaries the battle commenced; it was continued from sun-rise until evening and if the accuser cried craven, or was killed, the accused was held to be acquitted of the charge. On the contrary, if the accused was vanquished or killed, he was adjudged guilty and hanged, if he was not killed in the battle, and, in either case, his blood was thereafter attainted, so that his heirs were cut off from inheriting from him, and all his posterity was made base and ignoble.*

'King Richard II, Act I, Scene III.

1 Hale, Hist. Com. Law, 188.

3 Bl. Comm. 337; 4 Bl. Comm. 346.

'Co. Litt. 391b. For history of English law, of trial by battle. see I Reeve's Hist. Eng. Law, p. 393; III Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 329; IV Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 58, and citations.

By way of further illustration of this proceeding, a Lord is made to offer the gage to the Duke of Aumerle, as follows: "Lord. From sun to sun, there is my honour's pawn; Engage it to the trial, if thou dare'st."

And the Duke of Surrey likewise is made to offer battle to Lord Fitzwater, as follows:

"Surrey. In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn,

Engage it to the trial, if thou dar'st."

(King Richard II, Act IV, Scene I.)

A trial by battle, occurred in England in 1571 (Dyer, p. 801) and as late as 1818, after a full discussion, the right to such a

trial was allowed by the judges in England.

(Ashford vs. Thorn

ton, 1 Barn. & Ald. 405.) This decision no doubt gave occasion for the enactment of the statute of 59th Geo. III, c. 46, by which this proceeding was abolished in England.

Vernon and Bassett, implore the right of trial by battle, in 1' Henry VI, as follows:

"Ver. Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign:

Bas. And me, my lord, grant me the combat, too.

York. Let this dissension first be tied by fight, And then your highness shall command a peace." (Act IV, Scene I.)

The following references to trial by battle, occur in 2' Henry VI, wherein Horner and his apprentice, Peter have such a trial: "Glo. This doom, my lord, if I may judge.

Hor.

Pet.

Let these have a day appointed them

For single combat in convenient place;

For he hath witness of his servant's malice:

This is the law, and this duke Humphrey's doom.

And I accept the combat willingly.

Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity my case: the spite of man prevaileth against me.

York. . Please it, your majesty,

This is the day appointed for the combat;
And ready are the appellant and defendant,
The armorer and his man to enter the lists,
So please your highness to behold the fight.
Q. Mar. Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore
Left I the court to see this quarrel tried.

K. Hen. O, God's name, see the lists and all things fit:
Here let them end it and God defend the right.

York.

combatants.

Sound trumpets, alarum to the (Alarum. They fight and Peter strikes down his master.)

Sec. 192. Party-verdict.—

"K. Rich. Thy son is banish'd upon good advice, Whereto thy tongue a party-verdict gave."

A party-verdict, is used in the sense of a partial verdict, no doubt, which is the special verdict on one charge or

Hor. Hold, Peter, hold; I confess, I confess treason. (Dies.) York. Take away his weapon:-Fellow, thank God, and the good wine in thy master's way.

Peter. O God: Have I overcome mine enemies in this presence? O Peter, thou has prevailed in right.

K. Hen. Go, take hence, that traitor from our sight;

For, by his death, we do perceive his guilt;

And, God in justice hath reveal'd to us,

The truth and innocence of this poor fellow,

Which he had thought to have murder'd wrongfully.—
Come, fellow, follow us, for thy reward."

(Act I, Scene III; Act II, Scene III.)

The trial by battle is again shown in King Lear, when Edgar and his bastard brother, Edmund, try their cause by the wage of battle.

After the proclamation by the Herald for Edmund, Edgar appears, and the Herald asks him:

"Her. What are you? Your name, your quality? And why you answer this present summons.

Edg. Know my name is lost; By treasons tooth-bare gnawn, and canker-bit;

Yet am I noble as the adversary, I came to cope withal.
Alb. Which is that adversary?

Edg. What's he that speaks for Edmund earl of Gloster
Edm. Himself; -What say'st thou to him?

Edg. Draw thy sword.

Edm. In wisdom, I should ask thy name;

But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,
And that thy tongue some'say of breeding breathes,
What safe and nicely I might well delay

By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn."

(Act V, Scene III.)

By the rule of knighthood, referred to, if the adversary was not of equal rank with the challeng'd one, the combat might be legally declined.

King Richard II, Act I, Scene III.

count in a criminal case, returned by the jury, as where a verdict for the accused is found on part or some of the charges or counts in the indictment and a verdict against the accused in another form, by the same jury. In other words, as Gaunt, himself had advised such a course, the verdict of banishment, the king maintains, was a verdict to which he gave his partial consent.

wench;

Off goes his bonnet to an oyster

A brace of draymen bid-God speed him well,
And had the tribute of his supple knee,

With-Thanks my countrymen, my loving friends;
As were our England, in reversion his,

And he our subjects next degree of hope.'

A reversion is the residue of an estate in lands, to commence in possession after the determination of a prior

1 Arch. Cr. Pl. & Evid. 146, 147.

Vernon decided in favor of the white rose, in the controversy between Somerset and Richard Plantagenet, in 1' Henry VI, as follows: "Ver. Then, for the truth and plainness of the case, I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here, Giving my verdict on the white rose side." (Act II, Scene IV.)

Richard Plantagenet, in 1' Henry VI, speaking of the trouble between Gloster and the Bishop of Winchester, said: “Pian. Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue, lest it be said, Speak, sirrah, when you should; Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?" (Act III, Scene I.)

A citizen, speaking of Caius Marcius, being an enemy of the people, in Coriolanus, said: "1 Cit. Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. I'st a verdict?" (Act I, Scene I.) Describing her lover, the "fickler maid," narrated, in A Lover's Complaint:

"But quickly on this side the verdict went:
His real habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament.

Accomplish'd in himself, not in his case."

King Richard II, Act I, Scene III.

(113, 116.)