Before There Was Federal Rule of Evidence 612 . . .

Federal Rule of Evidence 612 governs the permissible means of refreshing the recollection of someone on the witness stand in a court proceedings. But, before Rule 612 was adopted, the Romans had a somewhat different approach:

During Roman time, in court, a witness would be pulled by the ear by a person saying "memento!" to help the witness to remember what happened better.

From here.