Q: The recent question about the right hand extended after the laying on of hands during the ordination of a priest, reminded me that I have seen this practice before and to the time to research it. It is a carryover from the Rite of Ordination before Vatican II.

The relevant paragraph from the Pontificale Romanum says:

Post haec surgunt omnes, et ordinandis coram Pontifice binis, et binis successive genuflectentibus, Pontifex stans ante faldistorium suum cum mitra, et nulla Oratione, nulloque cantu praemissis, imponit simul utramque manum super caput cujuslibet ordinandi successive, nihil dicens. Idemque faciunt post eum omnes Sacerdotes, qui adsunt, quorum tres, aut plures, planetis vel saltem cum stolis parati, si commode fieri potest, esse deberent.

Quo facto, tam Pontifex, quam Sacerdotes, tenent manus dexteras extensas super illos. 

The last sentence speaks to the practice 

I hope this is of some help in explaining the origin of the practice 

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A: Thank you for this. I see it now at no. 115 in my copy of the pontifical. I overlooked that detail when I commented on the revised rites in my book Present for God’s Call. Thank you for sharing this.