well versed in litigation, like the one they call a lawyer. Lawyers study lawsuits as an art, just as an engineer studies engineering as an art; he is, in effect, an engineer of lawsuits. Thus, you find a lawyer advancing arguments greater than mountains, even when he is in the wrong and lying, because he gains two things thereby:

First: the fee assigned to him.

Second: his skill in advocacy and his ability in it.

Thus, the view adopted by the author is correct: if he says, “I have no evidence,” then subsequently produces evidence, it is accepted.

If an oath becomes binding upon a mute person, how does he swear?

He swears by gesture. A mute person has gestures that people understand, and his gesture takes the place of his verbal statement.

People fear an oath in litigation when the one taking it is lying, for punishment reaches him more swiftly than his shadow. Cases have been related that support this fear. As one of the early generations said: “A false oath leaves homes desolate”—that is, empty of people.