Deeds Speak Louder Than Words: Covenants and the Law of Proof, 1290–1321

Abstract

This chapter explores when and why did the central courts of Common Law come to insist on specialty, a sealed writing, to prove a covenant. There are four basic assertions which can be made with reasonable confidence. First, contrary to what was once sometimes thought, it was not an immemorial rule that a deed was required. Secondly, the rule applied at first in some actions of covenant and not in others; and it could sometimes apply to covenants pleaded in other forms of action. The third of them is that the rule was never applied in London or other local courts, where covenant retained its pristine informality without fear of error. Fourthly, the rule was not extended in a general way to the other contractual action of debt, in which wager of law remained possible in the central royal courts in many situations. Keywords:central courts; Common law; covenants; London