It was also anything but gratifying to the Editor to find that the type had made him say that he "should feel fully gratified in blowing his own trumpet." He now desires to justify himself by stating that the word justified would have better expressed his sentiments.
LEGAL ANTIQUITIES. Notaries have existed as public officers from a period of remote antiquity, though their office and duties were not similar to those of the present day. In early times, when writing was known by very few, it was natural that a demand should exist for a class of officers who were able to prepare and attest a written instrument embodying the terms of a contract. We find them described under various names in ancient history, but the generic term applicable to all such persons was Scriba. Gradually their functions were extended, but their acts were not accorded full public authenticity until the time of Charlemagne. In one of his capitularies in the year 803, he desired his deputies to nominate notaries in every place, and in 805 he obliged every bishop, abbot, and count to have each a notary. In England, notaries exercised their powers before the Norman Conquest, and at a very early period these officers were employed to attest or authenticate instruments of more than or dinary importance and solemnity. In Shakspeare's time, the custom of executing instruments of a solemn nature before a notary was well established, as is shown by the following passage from the "Merchant of Venice " (Act i. scene 3) : — "Shylock. me to a notary, "Antonio. bond. "Shylock. notary's."
This kindness will I show; go with seal me there your single bond. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this Then meet me forthwith at the Banking Law Journal.
Bentham, in his "Principles of Legislation," would have it that no law should be passed without a proper preamble, but it may be doubted whether most of those prefixed to the older English enact ments would have been recognized by Bentham as "proper preambles." Take, for instance, the cu
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rious proamium to the Act granting a subsidy to Henry VIII., in the thirty-seventh year of his reign : — "Whereas, We, the people of this realm, have, for the most part of us, so lived under his Majestie's sure protection, and yet so live, out of all fear and danger as if there were no warre at all, even as small fishes of the sea, in the most tempestuous and Stormie weather, doe lie quietly under the rock or brookside, and are not moved with the surges of the water, nor stirred out of their quiet place, however the wind bleweth," etc. In the first year of the following reign we meet with another florid recital, in a statute repealing treasons and felonies : — "That subjects should rather obey from the love of their princes than from dread of severe laws; that, as in tempest or winter one course and government is convenient, and in calm or more warm weather a more liberal care or lighter garments both may and ought to be followed and used, so it is likewise necessary to alter the laws according to the times." Indeed, the statute book overflows with strange and quaint materials of this kind.
FACETS. [This column of the " Green Bag " has been used freely by our contemporaries in search of material for, " jokes " and " humors of the law," and the Editor has been pleased to see that his selection of " Facetiae " has been deemed worthy of so extended a circulation. We claim no originality for these anecdotes, except in a few cases, and our brother editors are heartily welcome to use them as they choose. We have, however, made it a point to credit other legal journals with anything taken from their columns; and if other journalists would reciprocate by kindly crediting the " Green Bag" with what is taken from its pages, it would be only a courteous recognition of the many hours spent by the Editor in digging and delving for good stories to amuse and entertain our readers.]
Baron Alderson once tried a civil action in which the plaintiff had had his ribs broken and his skull fractured by the defendant. The facts
