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[001] punishment for the greater would be extinguished in part, that is, he would be
[002] neither drawn nor broken, which ought not to be. If two or more actions lie
[003] against a single defendant, one criminal and the other civil, the criminal action
[004] must be determined first. The reason is because if one has been appealed of life
[005] and members, an exception is available to him against anyone suing him civilly,
[006] [namely], that the appellee need not answer until he has defended himself in the
[007] criminal action,1 nor may he change his estate as long as that is in doubt because
[008] of the crime.2 If two civil actions lie against one defendant, one in personam and
[009] the other in rem, they may both be pursued at the same time because neither
[010] destroys or excludes the other, since they are not repugnant to one another even
[011] between the same parties;3 it is as though one plaintiff had instituted them against
[012] several defendants. If both are in rem and both on the possession, that on the
[013] plaintiff's own possession, as the assise of novel disseisin, must be determined
[014] before that founded upon the possession of another, as the assise of mortdancestor
[015] on the death of some ancestor.4 If two claim their own seisins against one defendant
[016] by assises of novel disseisin, the last seisin must be disposed of first,5 and so if there
[017] are several. And let the same be done of assises of mortdancestor, if several claim
[018] against one by that assise.6 If several civil actions are available to one plaintiff
[019] against one defendant, both on his own possession and on another's as well as on
[020] the property, the demandant has a choice as to which he wishes to pursue, and,
[021] having elected, will not have recourse to the others while that is unresolved,7
[022] [that is], if he proceeds according to the order of actions. If he proceeds without
[023] observing that order he will [never] have recourse to them afterwards. Hence
[024] if a plaintiff has several actions against a single defendant, for example, the
[025] assise of novel disseisin on his own possession and the assise [of mortdancestor]
[026] on that of an ancestor, the writ of entry and the writ of right, then, if he wishes
[027] to observe the order, that he may after the termination of one have recourse
[028] to the others, let him first choose the actions on the possession, and [of those]
[029] first that on his own possession, afterwards that on the possession of another;
[030] then let him first proceed on the property, choosing first the action of entry and
[031] afterwards that on the right itself.8 For if he first elects to sue on the mere right he
[032] will never afterwards have recourse to the lesser actions,9 unless, as sometimes
[033] happens in the course of pleading, the writ of right is converted into a writ of entry,
[034] for though, as was said above, the order is binding in ascending from action to
[035] action up to the writ of right, it will never bind in descending from a higher to a
[036] lower action.10



Notes

1. Infra iv, 292

2. Infra iv, 329

3. Supra 294

4. Infra iii, 39, iv, 284

5. Infra 321

6. Infra iii, 271-2

7. Supra 297, infra 322

8. Supra 297

9. Supra 297, infra iii, 38-9, iv, 284

10. Cf. supra 297, infra iv, 290


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