Copy

[L. Lat. copia; Fr. copie.] The transcript or double of an onginaJ writing, as a charter, roll, patent, deed, writ, pleaaing, affidavit, c&c* Termesdelaley.

Cowell.

Copies are of two kinds; under seal, and not under seal. Copies under seal are called exemplifications, and are either under the great seal, or under the seal of the court in which the originals are filed or deposited.* 2 Tidd's Pr. 800. Copies not under seal are also, in England, of two kinds; sworn copies and office copies. A sworn or examined copy is a copy sworn (by the party intending to use it) to have been examined with the original record or paper, being first prepared by the officer having custody of it. An office copy is a copy made out by the officer in whose hands the original is, without being examined.

Archb. N. Pract, 367.

A «rtifiod copy, in the United States, is a copy certified to be such bj the officer having the custody of the original, (being previously compared by him with such original,) and usually under seal, unless where the original is filed with the clerk of a court, and the copy is to be used in the same court. Sworn copies are not generally in use. The word copy seems obviously derived from the Latin copia; the change from the classical (leave, liberty, opportunity,) to the law sense (a transcript) being very significantly shown in the use made of it by Braeton. Speaking of that description of deeds then called ckarta communes y (i. e. those in which both parties had a common interest, as involving a mutuality of obligation,) this author observes that where such a deed remained in the possession of the grantee, the grantor might, in a case where his interest was concerned, demand to have it shown to him; {donator, eo quod sua interest, petat a donatorio exhibitionem;) and that where there was a dispute or doubt between the parties as to the right of either, the grantee was boimd to exh Snt the instrument, {exhibeat instrumentum,) or he could have no action, &c. Bract, fol.

34.

So, in case of a dispute between the grantor of a manor and the tenant or holder of it, the same author observes that the latter was bound to show his deed, (ostendere debet ten^^ chartam,) to make good his plea. Id, ibid. And he then proceeds to ]ay down the general rule, that whenever a party wished to make use of a private writing for his own benefit, in a judicial proceeding, he must allow his adversary to inspect and use it against him, (copiam faciet ddversario suo contra se;) but that a demandant had no right to require that instruments in the hands of the tenant should be shown him for th^ purpose of enabling him to count or declare, since a party was not bound to arm his adversary against himself, unless the instruments were common, (i. e. of the kind above described.) Copiam facere, in this last quotation, is obviously the common classical expression signifying to impart a thing, to allow a privilege in, or respecting it. See Copia, Copiam facere scriptures is to grant a party the privilege or opportunity of acquainting himself with the contents of a writing, which was done, as clearly appears from the context, by showing it to him. See Bract, fol.

389 b.

Convenience no doubt suggested the practice, in most cases, of delivering a transcript instead of showing the original; and when the privilege {copia) came to assume this shape, it is easy to see how the word itself would gradually acquire a new and technical meaning, attaching, as a name of description, to the particular transcript so made use of. Hence, probably, was formed the Fr. copie, from which is obviously derived the English copy. See Transcript, So that by this process the classical facere copiam would ultimately become (as it did) good Law Latin, signifying to make a copy. Copiam concedere et liberare, (to grant and deliver a copy,) is the language of the old writ de copia libe Ui deliberanda, Reg, Orig. 58. And that this technical application of the word copia was by a very easy transition, will appear from a comparison of the copia libe Ui of this writ with the libri copia of Aulus Gellius in the following passage: Catonis verba huic prorsus commentario indidissem, si libri copia, fuisset id ternporis cum, d'c. A, GelL Noct. Att, i.

23.

The sense, it will be seen, is the same, whether the words " si libri copia fuisset" be translated '' if I had had the means of consultinff the book," or in the modem phrase, " if I had had a copy of the book."