the history of their growth and development, than Judge E. W. McKinstry, the present head of the College. He was born at De troit, Mich., in 1826. He came to California during the early days of the gold excitement, and was elected a member of the first legisla ture. From 1852 until 1873 he was almost continuously on the bench, being part of the time a District Judge and part of the time a County Judge. In 1873 he was elected a
Justice of the Supreme Court, and held that office until 1888, when he resigned to accept the chair of Municipal Law in the Law School. In 1889 the University of Michi gan conferred upon him the degree of Doc tor of Laws. Judge McKinstry's career on the Supreme Bench has given him a national reputation. It is fortunate for the College that it is placed in the charge of one so able and experienced.
OATHS. TT seems to have been recognized, from .*- time immemorial and among all peoples, that a man's word was not to be relied upon unless emphasized by the taking of a solemn oath. The peculiarities attending the cere mony of oath-taking in various countries, and among different sects and parties, pre sent some curious features, not only in con nection with the terms of the adjuration, but the actions employed to make them more forcible or impressive. In the Holy Scriptures we find that it was usual for the oath-taker to place his hand under the thigh or to raise it toward heaven. Among other forms of adjuration the He brews and Egyptians swore by the head, or the life of an absent prince. In the case of the later Jews the earth, the heavens, and the sun, as well as angels, were adjured, as also the temple, Jerusalem, etc.; the phy lactery was sometimes touched on taking the oath. Selden says the Jews were ac customed to swear laying the hand on the Book of the Law; and from this may have arisen the practice of swearing on the Gos pels, prevalent at an early period throughout Christendom. The Greeks had a special reverence for oaths; the adjurations were multifarious, and were commonly by the god to whom the business in which men were engaged, or the place in which they were, belonged.
The manner of swearing was by lifting up the hands to heaven or placing them on the altar. Some Greek oath-takers held their garments, and pointed a sword towards the throat, invoking Heaven, Earth, or the Fu ries. The ancient Roman swore by his faith or honor; Livy tells us that the sanctity of an oath had more influence than the fear of laws and punishment. The Orientals and ancient Persians swore by the sun; while the Scythians adjured the air, and a more tangible object, the scimitar. The early Anglo-Saxons, like the Celts and northern nations, laid their hands on some pillar of stone. Before the introduction of Christianity, Freia, the wife of Woden, was a frequent attestator of oaths. Among the Frisii, or Frieslanders, a most solemn appeal was to take up a lock of hair with the left hand, and to lay two fingers of the right upon it. The Franks were accustomed to swear holding straws in their hands. The ancient Byzantines swore by their own copper coins; this was also an old German custom before the introduction of Christianity. Several oaths of the Middle Ages were borrowed from the pagans, as idols upon arms, — the usual mode of adjuration among northern nations; upon the scabbard of the sword; confirmation of the oath by joining hands; by taking hold of the hem of the garment; swearing upon bracelets, and oth
