Note 51 — Chapter VII · Wager of Law.
Reading edition
III. Reeve’s History English Law, 570.
Referring to the fact that wager of law was allowed in actions of debt and detinue and the attempt to demonstrate that this was because jury trials were inconsistent with the rights of the parties in these actions, Pollock and Maitland, in their History of English Law, show that the truth is that these actions are older than jury trials. (Vol. II., p. 634.)