Women's Oaths

1895

The Fair Sex Swore More in Old Times Than Nowadays

Dr. Barker Newhall, of Brown University, in his paper on "Women's Speech in Classic Literature," said: "Disconnected thought and inconsequent expression are characteristic of the female mind, and are exhibited, e.g., in oration 32 of Lysias, by the lack of connection between the sentences in one place and by the excess of it in another; while in Terence the insertion of a parenthesis often breaks the continuity. Again, we notice the prolixity of style, as shown by useless repetitions or such diffuseness and garrulity as are familiar in Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath.' Plato and Cicero tell us that women are conservative and keep many antiquated phrases. Such are found in Corndia's letter and elsewhere, while proverbs abound in Theocritus's fifteenth idyll. Women also show their emotion by pathetic repetitions and exaggeration, as in the speeches ascribed by historians to certain Roman matrons and in Alciphron's love letters. Swearing was once quite common among English women, so Juliet's nurse and Dame Quickly swear very freely, while Hotspur reproaches Kate for using the weak oaths of women. In classic antiquity the weaker sex swore the more frequently and matrons most of all. In Greece, as men swore by no goddess save Demeter, so the women by no god but Zeus, while oaths by Aphrodite were especially characteristic. In the best period Roman men never called Castor to witness, nor the women Hercules. Similarly certain interjections were the exclusive property of the women, as among some savage tribes they have peculiar names for many objects."

Signature of the Cross, Signing with an "X"

1874

The mark which persons, who are unable to write are required to make instead of their signatures, is in the form of a cross; and this practice having been formerly followed by kings and nobles, is constantly referred to as an instance of the deplorable ignorance of ancient times.

This signature is not, however, invariably a proof of such ignorance. Anciently the use of the mark was not confined to illiterate persons; for among the Saxons the mark of the cross, as an attestation of the good faith of the person signing was required to be attached to the signature of those who could write, as well to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write. In those times, if a man could write, even read, his knowledge was considered proof that he was in holy orders. The clericus, or clerk was synonymous with penman; and the laity, or people who were not clerks, did not feel any urgent necessity for the use of letters.

The ancient use of the cross was therefore universal, alike by those who could and those who could not write; it was indeed the symbol of an oath, from its sacred associations, as well as the mark generally adopted. Hence the origin of the expression, "God save the mark," as a form of ejaculation approaching the character of an oath.


The Friendship of Men

I know nothing which life has to offer so satisfying as the profound good understanding which can subsist, after much exchange of good offices, between two virtuous men, each of whom is sure of himself and of his friend. It is a happiness which postpones all other gratifications and makes politics and commerce and churches cheap. For, when men shall meet as they ought, each a benefactor, a shower of stars, clothed with thoughts, with deeds, with accomplishments, it would be the festival of nature which all things announce. — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Curious Forms of Taking Oaths Around the World

1903

Customs Followed by Chinese, Hindus, Persians, and Other Peoples

The bill to repeal the law providing for extra judicial oaths in all civil courts calls attention to the variety of oaths that might be brought into practice in a court of world-wide cosmopolitanism, says the Milwaukee Sentinel.

The section of the law which it is sought to repeal has been on the statute book for many years, but has rarely been invoked by either of the parties to an action. It's existence has, however, sometimes been prejudiced to the impartial administration of justice.

Chinese witnesses must be sworn in several ways if they are to be bound to tell the truth. In some cases the witness breaks a plate and assents to the imprecation that his soul may be shattered in the same way if he strays from the paths of veracity.

With a large section of the Chinese the formula is for the person administering the oath to light a match or candle and. blowing it out, tell the witness that thus will his soul be extinguished if he does not speak the truth, to which he assents by giving a short nod.

Some tribes living on the Thibetan tableland can only be sworn in court by cutting off the head of a live gamecock. The Hindoo law says:

"Let a judge swear a Brahman by his veracity, a soldier by his horses, his elephants, his grain or his money, and a souder by all his crimes."

Quakers, in all civil cases, are allowed to give their evidence in affirmation, as also are the Moravians and Separatists.

A Galla of Abyssinia sits down over a pit covered with a hide, imprecating that he may fall into a pit if he break his word.

A Brazilian savage, to confirm his statement, raises his hand over his head and thrusts it into his hair or touches the point of his weapons.

Among the Aracans, an Asiatic tribe, the witness swearing to speak the truth takes in his hand a musket, a sword, a spear, a tiger's tusk, a crocodile's tooth or a stone celt. The hill tribes of India swear by a tiger's skin and the Ostraks by a bear's head.

The sacred oath in Persia is "by the holy grave," that is, the tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried in Cashmere.

Members of the Kirk of Scotland are sworn by lifting the hand while the book is laid open before them; Jews are sworn on the Pentateuch with their hats on; Mohammedans by placing the right hand flat on the Koran and the left on the forehead, and then bringing down the forehead to the book, and finally gazing a while at the book. The highest oath of the man who dwells by the Ganges, in India, is taken on the water of that river.