Straw Men
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Men who used in former days to ply about courts of law, so called from their manner of making known their occupation (i. e., by a straw in one of their shoes), recognized by the name of "straw shoes." An advocate or lawyer who wanted a convenient witness knew by these signs where to find one, and the colloquy between at the fee, and gave no sign; but the fee increased, and the powers o£ memory increased with it. "To be sure I do." "Then come into court and swear it!" And straw shoes went into court and swore it. Athens abounded in straw shoes.
Quart. Rev. xxxiii, 344.