Note 10 — TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD.
Reading edition
A custodium is a law proceeding in Ireland, not practised much any where else, and is vastly worse than even an “extent in aid.” By one fiction the debtor is supposed to owe money to the king:—by another “fiction,” the king demands his money;—and the debtor, by a third “fiction,” is declared a rebel, because he does not pay the king.—A commission of rebellion then issues in the name of the king against the debtor; and by a fourth “fiction,” he is declared an outlaw, and all his estates are seized and sequestered to pay his majesty. A receiver of every shilling belonging to the debtor is then appointed by the king’s chief baron of the exchequer; every tenant on the estates is served with the “fictions,” as well as the landlord; and a debt of one hundred pounds has been frequently ornamented with a bill of costs to the amount of three thousand in the name of his majesty, who does not know the least circumstance of the matter.
There was scarcely a gentleman in the county of Galway, formerly, but was as great an outlaw as Robin Hood; with this difference, that Robin Hood might be hanged, and his majesty could only starve the gentleman.