Dyvour's habit

DYVOUR'S HABIT. Scotch law. A habit which debtors, who are set free on a cessio bonorum, are obliged to wear, unless in the summons and process of cessio, it be libelled, sustained, and proved that the bankruptcy proceeds from misfortune. And bankrupts are condemned to submit to the habit, even where no suspicion of fraud lies against them, if they have been dealers in an illicit trade. Ersk. Pr. L. Scot. 4, 3, 13. This practice was bottomed on that of the Roman civil law, which Filangierl says is better fitted to excite laughter than compassion. He adds: " Si conduce il debitore vicino ad una colonna a quest officio destinata, egli l'abbraccia nel mentre, che uno araldo grida Cedo bonis ed un al tro gli abza le vesti, e palesa agli spettatori le sue natiche. Finita questa ceremonia il debitore messo in liberta." Filangieri della legislazione, cap. iv.