Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 125

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Volume 3, Page 125

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[001] they are bastards and as good as none, have a certain¹ free tenement with their wives
[002] but cease to have it [after a certain time], immediately after her death.² There are
[003] some who are seised and in seisin as of a free tenement but not as of fee, as those who
[004] hold only for their life, as a wife her dower, by reason of dower, [or] a husband after
[005] the death of his wife by the law of England, or by way of gift for a term of life, or until
[006] he be provided for.³ There are some who are in seisin and seised, as those who hold in
[007] fee to themselves and their heirs, who at once have the free tenement and the property.
[008] There are some who are in seisin though not seised, as intruders and disseisors
[009] [who] enter into possession without the consent of the lord, or enter with his consent,
[010] as a creditor or farmer, who use the seisin, sometimes with the issues, sometimes without
[011] them. And in the same way those who are in seisin and seised sometimes use the
[012] seisin with the issues, sometimes without them. And though they do not at once use
[013] or take the esplees, nevertheless, as soon as they are in seisin by the causa of succession,
[014] or by rightful title, as by way of gift from a true lord, they at once have a free
[015] tenement, since seisin and right are conjoined in one person. Nor is use or the taking
[016] of esplees of great importance in acquiring seisin as of a free tenement, because they
[017] add nothing to the seisin or the tenement except, so to speak, a certain vestment, as
[018] where they strengthen the seisin and make it clearer.⁴ [One may be seised and in
[019] seisin and have a free tenement as against his feoffor and others who have no right
[020] immediately after the feoffment, and be in seisin and not seised as against the true
[021] lord until time has passed, as where one has been enfeoffed by a non-lord who is in
[022] possession by some causa.] And that one may have a free tenement without use and
[023] esplees may be seen by this, that no mention of esplees is ever made, though use is
[024] sometimes mentioned, in a possessory action, in any assise, as it is in a proprietary
[025] action, for in order to have the property it does not suffice to be in seisin as of a free
[026] tenement unless he uses it effectively and takes the esplees, so that he thus has his
[027] double right, that is, dreit dreit. For there is possessory right and proprietary right.
[028] ⁵He may also except against the assise that the plaintiff never was in seisin by himself,
[029] because, though he had a charter of feoffment, his feoffor always remained in
[030] seisin, and hence he had no seisin of which he could⁶ be disseised. If the feoffor

Notes

1. ‘quidam’

2. Supra 34, 38, infra 151

3. Cf. supra ii, 90, iii, 39-40, 50, 69, infra 127

4. Supra ii, 125

5. New paragraph

6. ‘posset’