Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 264

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Bracton Online -- English

Volume 2, Page 264

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[001] or another to whom it does not belong and who has no right, or if he has the other
[002] has a greater right, he acts to the prejudice of the chief lord to whom the marriage
[003] belongs in absolute right. Though it is delivered to him, since the purchaser had
[004] no real seisin in the lifetime of the vendor, because of non-use he cannot vouch
[005] the heir to warranty. ¹If heirs while under the potestas of their parents marry
[006] without their consent, they are not on that account to be disinherited but to be
[007] punished in another way, if the parents so wish. ¹If unmarried heirs come into
[008] the control of their lords, and the chief lords, when they have right though another
[009] has a greater right, sell the marriage, and he who has the greater right claims the
[010] marriage and the wardship of the heir from the purchaser, there the vendor will be
[011] vouched to warranty. And what is said of one purchaser may be said of several, if
[012] the marriage has been sold to several successively.

A provision applicable where one has ravished an heir.

[014] ²There is a provision made by common counsel concerning heirs within age, if
[015] while so under age they are wrongfully abducted and kept out of the wardship of
[016] their lords by their relatives: that if a layman is convicted of abducting and
[017] marrying off a child without the leave of the chief lord let him restore to the guardian
[018] the value of the marriage and, because of his delict, let his body be delivered
[019] to prison by the bailiffs until he has made amends to the guardian for his wrongful
[020] act and satisfied the king for his trespass. This may be understood of heirs below
[021] the age of fourteen years. If heirs who are fourteen years of age and more, but not
[022] of full age, marry without the consent of their lords to deprive them of the marriage,
[023] and the chief lord of such heir has offered him a reasonable marriage which does
[024] not disparage him and which he ought not to refuse, let his lord then hold his
[025] land beyond his full age, that is, beyond his twenty-first year, for so long a time as
[026] suffices³ to collect the double value of the marriage, according as it is valued by
[027] lawful men or according to what earlier (openly and in good faith) was offered him
[028] for the same marriage, or according to the value that may be established for it in
[029] the king's court. If chief lords and guardians have married those they have in
[030] wardship to villeins or others, such as burgesses, whereby they are disparaged, if
[031] such⁴ heir is below the age of fourteen years, or of such age that he cannot consent,
[032] then, if his relatives complain, the lord shall lose the wardship completely and all

Notes

1. New paragraph

2. Merton, ca. 6

3. ‘per tantum tempus quod’

4. ‘talis,’ all MSS.