Testimonial
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Besides its ordinary meaning of a written recommendation to character, testimonial has a special meaning, under Stat. 39 Eliz. ch. 17, § 3, passed in 1597, under which it signified a certificate under the hand of a justice of the peace, testifying the place and time when and where a soldier or mariner landed, and the place of liis dwelling or birth, unto which he was to pass, and a convenient time limited for his passage. Every idle and wandering soldier or mariner not having sucli a testimonial, or wilfully exceeding for above fourteen days the time limited thereby, or forging or counterfeiting such testimonial, was to suffer death as a felon, without benefit of clergy. This act was repealed, in 1812, by Stat. 52 Geo. III. ch.
31.
Mozley #■ W.