The minor law books: The minor law books (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889)

PROCEEDINGS AT LAW.

1.3

* 26. Because it proceeds from one of these three
motives, carnal desire, wrath, and greed; therefore
it is said to have three efficient causes. These are
the three sources of lawsuits.
* 27. It is said to have two modes of plaint, be-
cause a plaint may be either founded on suspicion
or on fact. It is founded on suspicion, when the
defendant has been seen to move in bad company.
It is founded on fact, when the stolen chattels or the
like have come to light.
* 28. Because it is based on the statements of the
two litigants, therefore it is said to have two open-
ings. There the accusation is called the plaint ; the
answer is called the declaration of the defendant.
* 29. Because it may be founded either on truth
or on error, therefore it is said to have two issues.
Truth is what rests on true facts. Error is what
rests on mistake of facts.
30. Ordeals even are rendered nugatory by artful
men. Therefore let no mistake be committed in
regard to place, time, quantity, and so on.
a number of different headings, which will be quoted in the notes
to this translation.
27. Supposing that the owner of a lost chattel casts his suspicion
on a man who is constantly seen in the company of well-known
thieves and other bad characters, or who lives with prostitutes, or is
addicted to gambling, if he impeaches that man, it is called a charge
founded on suspicion. If a man is impeached, after having been
taken with the maner, the stolen goods having been found among
his property, it is called a charge founded on fact. In a charge
founded on suspicion, the decision must be referred to the gods
(i.e. to an ordeal). In a charge founded on fact, the decision
rests with the king’s judge. A.
29. The issue of a lawsuit, like its beginning, may be twofold.
Either a just decision is given, in accordance with fact, or the
decision is erroneous. A.