Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 19

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Volume 3, Page 19

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[001] if not that, hinders him from using it advantageously. Here, though he does not completely
[002] expel him, he nevertheless disseises him, since he deprives him completely of
[003] the advantageous use of his tenement, or, by disturbing and unsettling his possession,
[004] hinders him from using it conveniently, quietly and in peace.¹ A disseisin is
[005] committed not only in the ways described, but also if some more powerful person
[006] attempts to use another's tenement against the tenant's will, by plowing, digging,
[007] reaping and carrying away,² ³<claiming as his a tenement that is another's; if he
[008] claims nothing in the tenement it will be otherwise, for that will be a trespass rather
[009] than the disseisin of a free tenement,>⁴ by putting in beasts or by imposing in some
[010] other way a servitude on land formerly free. Though he does not wholly expel or
[011] totally deprive, by so imposing a servitude he takes from him his freedom, so that the
[012] possessor holds less freely. One who possesses may commit a disseisin, as where one who
[013] has a right to use and enjoy another's land attempts to use it in another manner, at
[014] another time, or in some way other than he ought to use it, or otherwise than [the
[015] terms of] the servitude provide.⁵ ⁶<One commits a disseisin not only if action is taken
[016] as above, but when he who is in seisin as of a free tenement and for life, or for a term
[017] of years, or as guardian, or in some other way, enfeoffs another to the prejudice of
[018] the true lord and gives him a free tenement, since two cannot at the same time be in
[019] seisin of the same tenement as a whole.⁷ One may commit a disseisin under colour of
[020] distress, as where he distrains for service when nothing is due him, or when he has
[021] been paid, or if he exceeds the proper measure of distress.⁸ And so if he attempts to
[022] use with the rightful possessor, whether he wishes him to or not, as⁹ where he constructs
[023] something without his consent.¹⁰ One also commits a disseisin by bringing an
[024] unfounded action against a rightful possessor, which prevents him from using his
[025] tenement quietly and in peace, but not every action will be wrongful, as where the
[026] true lord (lest time run against him through inaction) brings an action against one
[027] who wrongfully withholds his property, that the other's possession or seisin may not
[028] be peaceful but interrupted.¹¹ One may be disseised of his tenement wrongfully and
[029] without judgment though he does not hold it freely but for a term of years, or of the
[030] demesne of the king, or in some other such way; such persons may be wronged, just
[031] as the others mentioned above, but they are not aided by this writ.>

Of forcible disseisin, that is, of simple force without arms.

[033] We have discussed above the nature of a disseisin, which may sometimes be forcible,
[034] sometimes simple [and] without force. [Forcible disseisins themselves may be] without
[035] arms

Notes

1. Infra 75, 129

2. D. 43.16.11

3. Supra i, 391

4. Infra 152, 153; Barton in Tulane L. Rev., xlii, 573

5. Infra 153

6. Supra i, 391

7. D. 41.2.3.5

8. Infra 153

9. ‘ut’

10. ‘manufactum’

11. Supra ii, 189