As suretyship was no [265] longer one of these, they became
strictly limited to cases in which the debt arose from the
receipt of a quid pro quo. Moreover there was no other action of
contract which could be maintained without a writing. New species
of contracts were now enforced by an action of covenant, but
there a deed was always necessary. At the same time the secta had
shrunk to a form, although it was still argued that its function
was more important in contract than elsewhere. It could no longer
be examined before the court. /1/ It was a mere survival, and the
transaction witness had ceased to be an institution. Hence, the
necessity of tendering the witness oath did not fix the limit of
debt upon simple contract except by tradition, and it is not
surprising to find that the action was slightly extended by
analogy from its scope in Glanvill's time.
But debt remained substantially at the point which I have
indicated, and no new action available for simple contracts was
introduced for a century. In the mean time the inversion which I
have explained took place, and what was an accident of procedure
had become a doctrine of substantive law. The change was easy
when the debts which could be enforced without deed all sprung
from a benefit to the debtor.
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