Exactly, contracts are rife with this for no good reason. I was filing some old leases and realized they were headered with "WITNESSETH" (in all caps because y

Exactly, contracts are rife with this for no good reason. I was filing some old leases and realized they were headered with "WITNESSETH" (in all caps because you cannot properly invoke its power otherwise), and thought "huh, is that a real word or Ye Olde Faux Englishe?" and it was a real word, but a different part of speech. It's not a command, it's a third-person singular verb floating around as a remnant of something like "this document witnesseth that...".