WAGEROFLAW
Wager of Law
A wager of law is essentially a character reference by, initially kin and later neighbours, often 11 or 12 men, and was a way to give credibility to the oath of a defendant at a time when the wager of law had more credibility than account books. Compare to legal wager, which is the provision of surity at the beginning of legal action to minimize frivolous litigation.The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Wager of Law
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