Edward Smirke

“ The form is certainly singular, but it contains the essential elements of what is now called a Welsh mortgage,—that is, a pledge of land redeemable for ever by the borrower, but without any covenant to repay the money lent at all events. It is, in effect, a conditional sale of the land. The form of a renewable term of years must have been adopted to secure the devolution of the land to executors instead of heirs, and to leave the fee-simple in the mortgagor. The creation of a term of 1000 years would have been too bold a flight for a conveyancer of the 15th century. ”

“ Smirke upon the Welsh documents communicated by Mr. W. W. Wynne:—
"The word pridare or appridare, i. e. ad pridam recipere, to lend on mortgage or pledge, is new to me, and is, I presume, peculiar to Welsh instruments of impignoration. I profess no knowledge of Welsh, but I find the word prid in the Welsh glossaries in the sense attributed to it by Mr. W. W. Wynne [1] In the recent edition of the "Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales," it occurs frequently, and is translated by the learned editor by the word price, and is supposed by him to be derived from the Latin pretium. ”

“ In Stat. 1 Edward III., cap 11, and 17, they are called "enditours;" and Chief Justice Hale calls them "indictors." (Hist. Plac. Coronæ, vol. ii., p. 152-3.) The word has ceased to be used in this sense, and now means (where it is used at all) a prosecutor or person who presents a bill to the grand jury. ”