Formerly where a defendant pleaded a local custom, for instance, a cus: torn of the city of London, it was necessary for him to “surmise,” that is, to suggest that such custom should be certified to the court by the mouth of the recorder, and without such a surmise the issue was to be tried by the country as other issues of fact are. 1 Burrows, 251; Vin. Abr. 246. A surmise is something offered to a court to move it to grant a prohibition, audita querela, or other writ grantable thereon. Jacob. In ecclesiastical practice, an allegation in a libel is called a “surmise.” A collateral surmise is a surmise of some fact not appearing in the libel. Phillim. Ecc. Law, 1445.