Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 179

Harvard Law School Library

Bracton Online -- English

Volume 2, Page 179

Next

Go to Volume: Page:

[001] and the extant fruits of her dower, whether they have been separated from the soil
[002] or not, a thing she formerly could not do but now may as a matter of favour.¹
[003] ²But if she is under her husband's authority she will not be able to make a will
[004] without his consent. Nevertheless, because it is only proper, she is sometimes
[005] permitted to dispose by will of that reasonable part she would have had if she had
[006] survived her husband,³ especially things given and granted her for personal adornment,
[007] as robes and jewels, which may be said to be her own. ⁴We must see of what
[008] things a man may make a will. It is clear that he may make a will of his movables,
[009] animate or inanimate, so far as anything remains after debts due others have been
[010] deducted,⁵ for one who has a hundred shillings but owes a hundred etc. If debts are
[011] owed to several, we must see who must be preferred. And clearly, if the testator is
[012] obligated to the lord king the king will be preferred to all; it will be fully ⁶lawful
[013] for the sheriff or other bailiff of the lord king, if he shows his letters patent of
[014] summons to the Exchequer,⁷ to list and attach, by the view of lawful men, the chattels
[015] of the deceased found in his lay fee to the value of the debt due to the lord king,
[016] so that nothing be taken therefrom until the acknowledged debt is discharged; let
[017] the remainder of the chattels be left to the executors.⁸ ⁹A debt owed by the deceased
[018] to the jews will not bear interest as long as the heir is within age, and if a debt
[019] [owed to] a jew comes into the king's hands he shall take [from the debtor] nothing
[020] except the principal, that is, the capital sum mentioned in the charter.¹⁰ Toward
[021] the discharging¹¹ of these debts or others the surviving wife of the deceased shall
[022] contribute nothing from her dower,¹² for a wife's dower ought to be free.¹³ ¹⁴If a
[023] free man dies intestate and suddenly his lord shall in no wise meddle with his goods,
[024] save only to see after what belongs to him, that is, that he have his heriot;¹⁵
[025] [their] administration will belong to the church and to his friends,¹⁶ for a man who
[026] dies intestate merits no punishment. Next there ought to be deducted the uncontested
[027] and acknowledged debts due others, among which may be reckoned what is
[028] owed the servants and the wages of members of the household, provided they are
[029] fixed in amount. If they are uncertain, as in the case of servants serving at no
[030] fixed wage, though such payments depend upon the pleasure of testators¹⁷ let
[031] them nevertheless be deducted from the estate when they have been estimated at
[032] the discretion of friends.

Notes

1. Merton, ca. 2; infra 276; B.N.B., i, xix, 89

2-3. Glanvill, vii, 5 (continuing n. 31 supra): ‘si vero fuerit in potestate viri constituta, nihil sine viri sui auctoritate facere potest, etiam in ultima voluntate, de rebus viri sui. Verumtamen pium esset et merito valde honestum si rationabilem divisam uxori suae concessisset, scilicet, usque ad tertiam partem rerum suarum quam viva quidem obtinuisset si maritum suum supervixisset ...’

4. New paragraph

5. D. 50.16.39.1: ‘Bona intelleguntur cuiusque quae deducto aere alieno supersunt.’; 50.16.213.1

6-8. Magna Carta (1215) ca. 26; (1225) ca. 18

7. Dialogue of the Exch., 70, 78

9-10. Magna Carta (1215) ca. 10; Merton, ca. 5

11. ‘adquietanda,’ OA, LA, CE, CM, MG, Y

12. Magna Carta (1215) ca. 11

13. Infra 281

14-15. Instituta Cnuti, ca. 70: Liebermann, i, 357: ‘Si quis obmutescit, antequam ex hac vita exeat, seu per neglegentiam seu per subitam mortem, dominus eius nichil se intromittat de omnibus bonis illius, nisi quantum ad eum iuste pertinet, hoc est tantum quod Angli vocant heregeate,’; infra 250

16. Magna Carta (1215) ca. 27

17. ‘testatorum,’ from line 32