Note 1085 — Chapter VIII · RISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL MARRIAGE: THE CHURCH DEVELOPS AND ADMINISTERS MATRIMONIAL LAW
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Pollock and Maitland, Hist. of Eng. Law, II, 367.
The rule laid down by Anselm in 1102, already mentioned, really invites such "hard swearing": "Promises of marriage made between man and woman without witnesses" are to be "null if either party deny them."—Johnson's Canons, 11, 27. The following is an example of what repeatedly happened in the ecclesiastical courts: "Omnium Sanctorum Honylane.—Thomas Potynger comparuit coram comissario [of London] in domo officii xxii die Augusti [1481], et prestitit juramentum, quod nunquam contraxhit matrimonialiter cum Margareta Hudson de eadem, ibidem presente, et confitente, quod nullum testem habuit ad probandum contractum, et ideo commissarius remisit eos regulae conscientiarum suarum."—Hale, Precedents and Procds. in Crim. Causes, 5. For another example see ibid., 6.