Wager of law Meaning, Definition & Usage

Definitions
  1. (Law), the giving of gage, or sureties, by a defendant in an action of debt, that at a certain day assigned he would take a law, or oath, in open court, that he did not owe the debt, and at the same time bring with him eleven neighbors (called compurgators), who should avow upon their oaths that they believed in their consciences that he spoke the truth.
Definitions
  1. . See under Wager.

Webster 1913