Note 52 — Book I.
John Beames translation
Duodecimâ manu. The author of the commentaries renders this expression eleven, besides the principal, an interpretation which is more or less confirmed by the following authorities: Co. Litt. 295. a. 2. Inst. 44, and the Diversity of Courts, p. 324. On the other hand, Les Termes de la Ley, in describing the ceremony as applied to the very object of the text, expressly says, that the principal should be accompanied by twelve. (Ibid. ad voc. ley.)
Bracton, when treating of the subject, employs the same expression, and observes, that the land was not to be replevied, before the tenant had waged his law, nor, if he failed in waging it; and he lays it down, that the Tenant could not wage his Law by means of an Attorney constituted for that purpose, but must do it personally. (Bracton 366. a. 410. a.) As to the origin of waging Law, the reader may consult Cowell ad voc. Law and les Termes de la ley ubi supra and Bl. comm. 3. 341. &c.
Before we quit this chapter, it may not be amiss to observe, that Sir Edward Coke refers to it to show, that previous to Magna Carta, he that would make his Law in any Court of Record, must bring with him fideles Testes. (Co. Litt. 168. b.)