(legal, chiefly, historical) An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".)
Subject Item
_:vb6348407
rdf:value
As to the depriving the defendant of waging his law, it was thought, the practice merited discouragement, as a temptation to perjury.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1793, Richard Wooddeson, A Systematical View of the Laws of England, page 169:
Subject Item
_:vb6348408
rdf:value
But, before the defendant takes the oath, the plaintiff is called by the crier thrice; and if he do not appear he becomes nonsuited, and then the defendant goes quit without taking his oath; and if he appear, and the defendant swear that he owes the plaintiff nothing, and the compurgators give it upon oath, that they believe he swears true, the plaintiff is barred for ever; for when a person has waged his law, it is as much as if a verdict had passed against the plaintiff; if the plaintiff do not appear to hear the defendant perform his law, so that he is nonsuit, he is not barred, but may bring a new action.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1846, Matthew Bacon, Sir Henry Gwilliam, Charles Edward Dodd, A New Abridgment of the Law with Large Additions and Corrections:
Subject Item
_:vb6348409
rdf:value
A withdrawal from a wager of law was an admission of the point as to which the law was waged; the defaulter also incurred a fine (i, 297).
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
2013, William Paley Baildon, Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield: Volume 2, 1297 to 1309, →ISBN, page ix: