Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 303

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Volume 2, Page 303

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[001] I knew not, I searched out most diligently.’¹ He does not say ‘diligently’ or ‘more
[002] diligently,’ but ‘most diligently.’ For a judge by investigation must draw certainty
[003] from doubt, truth from credulity,² knowledge from ignorance and information
[004] or what is known from what is unknown. [Thirdly], truth in judgment consists
[005] in the just pronouncement of judgment and its just and diligent execution, as in
[006] Deuteronomy sixteen, ‘That which is just shalt thou follow justly, that thou mayest
[007] live and possess the land, which the Lord thy God giveth to thee.’³ And in the
[008] second book of Chronicles nineteen, ‘Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for
[009] man but for the Lord, and whatsoever you judge, it shall redound to you. Let the
[010] fear of the Lord be upon you and do all things with diligence for there is no iniquity
[011] with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts,’⁴ which blind the
[012] eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the just, as is written in Ecclesiasticus,
[013] the twentieth chapter, ‘Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges.’⁵ ⁶And he who
[014] said ‘gifts’ or ‘presents’ understood every kind of present. That is a gift made by
[015] the hand, such as the offer of a corporeal thing; a gift made by the tongue, as a
[016] flattering and fawning entreaty, a public eulogy, a symphony of vain glory; a gift
[017] made by obedience, as a service bestowed⁷ and accepted, for which the probity of
[018] judgment is strained. Nor does a gift by reason of kinship deserve to be called
[019] anything else, when the line of right judgment is bent for the sake of the tie of
[020] blood. For in this blood touches blood. Gifts of this kind are truly called sordid
[021] and the lex humana imposes a grave penalty upon the judge corrupted by filth,
[022] that is, by sordid gifts, as where the judge or justice bargains with the litigant for a
[023] share in the suit, as C. 9.27.3, where it is said, ‘Let all attorneys and judges refrain
[024] from taking money, and let them not regard the controversies of others as a source
[025] of plunder. The attorney who is nothing more than a trader in private litigation
[026] shall be compelled to suffer the penalties prescribed by the laws.’ The forfeiture or
[027] penalty shall be that he restore fourfold what he has received, as C. 9.27.6 in fine,
[028] for there they are held to a fourfold penalty whether they receive the gift at the
[029] time of their administration or afterwards, whatever the pretext or guise, as where
[030] they feign it to be a gift or a sale. In truth he is defiled whom the truth of judgment
[031] does not adorn, as where bias or hatred, fear, envy or reward leads him to do the
[032] contrary, so that the truth of judgment falls in the streets,⁸ of which it may be
[033] said, ‘Woe to him defiled, through whom the truth is muddied in the puddles of
[034] the streets;’⁹ nor shall he be numbered among the blessed of whom it is said
[035] ‘Blessed is he that freeth his hands from all bribes.’¹⁰ But one need not reject
[036] every gift,

Notes

1. 29:16; Policraticus, v, 6 (551c); infra iii, 68

2. Infra iii, 74

3. 16:20

4. Paralip. ii, 19:6-7

5. Eccles. 20:31

6-7. C.1, qu. 1, c. 114: ‘Qui excutit manus suas ab omni munere. Non enim dicit solum a munere sed ab omni munere, quia aliud est munus ab obsequio, aliud a manu, aliud a lingua. Munus ab obsequio est servitus indebite impensa. Munus a manu pecunia est; munus a lingua favor.’; Policraticus, viii, 17 (784d)

8. Isai. 59:14

9. Unidentified

10. C. 11, qu. 3, c. 66: ‘Qui excutit manus suas ab omni munere, iste in excelsis habitabit’; X.5.3, ca. 18: ‘Beatus que excutit manus suas ab omni munere’