Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 378

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Volume 2, Page 378

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[001] [acquired and to be acquired,] as [he held it and] in the state it was on the day the
[002] felony was committed, in demesne and in service, for a term of life or of years. The
[003] same may also be said of a younger brother and his heirs with respect to everything
[004] that might accrue to him. From this it follows, so it seems, that an ancestor whose
[005] heir has committed a felony, of which he has been convicted, cannot give or alien
[006] after his heir's felony, any more than the felon himself can, since there is no heir
[007] who can warrant his gift and deed, unless it is specifically stated in his charter
[008] of feoffment that he may give and assign if his heirs fail, or are not able to warrant
[009] his gift for the reason aforesaid.¹

When an outlaw has been arrested it is unlawful for anyone to slay him unless he resists arrest.

[011] When an outlaw has been arrested it will not be lawful for anyone to slay him
[012] (except in the course of the arrest itself, if he attempts to resist) because after his
[013] arrest his life and death will be in the king's hand.² [Therefore] when he has been
[014] arrested, though he has been properly outlawed and with cause, the king out of the
[015] fullness of his power may give him his life and members, that he may abjure the
[016] realm.³

The king of his grace may sometimes grant their lives to those restored to the peace.

[018] He is sometimes bound to grant his life to a man of grace, as where he has killed
[019] a man by misadventure,⁴ or in self-defence,⁵ [or] if there was no causa for the
[020] outlawry, as where the man alleged to be slain is produced alive and well,⁶ [or]
[021] where the cause was inadequate, because the deed for which he was outlawed was
[022] not felony but trespass,⁷ [And so because the outlawry was not properly promulgated,
[023] or conducted in an unauthorized place, as above.]⁸ and according as it
[024] is the one or the other he may abjure the realm or remain within it, in accordance
[025] with the king's grace. And so if he is an ordained clerk, [A clerk, I say, whether he is
[026] great or small, a bishop just as any other.] because as to such the king cannot
[027] execute the judgment,⁹ nor will a judgment of outlawry pronounced in a secular
[028] court bind¹⁰ those who may clear themselves in court christian, [according to some,]
[029] where there is no [punishment] other than degradation if they cannot clear themselves.¹¹

Of homicide committed openly and in the presence of many bystanders; and of homicide committed in the absence of witnesses, which is called murder.

[031] We have spoken above of homicide committed openly and in the presence of many
[032] bystanders.¹²

Notes

1. Supra 99

2. Supra 354, 362, 369

3. Infra 382

4. Supra 357, 369, 372, 375, infra 438

5. Supra 372, 373

6. Supra 357, 358, 369, 372, 373, 375

7. Supra 337, 353, 356, 359, 369, 372

8. Supra 358

9. Infra iv, 250, 266, 278

10. ‘ligabit,’ all MSS.

11. ‘ubi non ... non possunt,’ from lines 26-7; supra 349, infra iv, 250, 266, 278

12. Supra 341, 350