Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 247

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Volume 3, Page 247

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[001] immediately re-ejects him, the heir will not recover by the assise as of his free tenement
[002] because he did not find the seisin vacant.¹ If the chief lord cannot eject the
[003] heir, he ought to be ejected by a superior acting ex officio, since he [the lord] cannot
[004] recover by the assise. When the chief lord has thus put himself into vacant seisin,
[005] he either knows who the heir is or does not, or if two or more dispute the inheritance
[006] he does not know which of them is the nearer heir, or if he knows which is the nearer
[007] he does not know whether he is alive or not, of full age or not. [If] when the heir is
[008] traveling abroad the chief lord enters into possession in his [the heir's] name, possession
[009] is immediately acquired for the heir, even though he knows nothing of it, as by
[010] the animus and corpus of a procurator.² And so if the heir is present, whether of full
[011] age or a minor. But if the lord does not know who the heir is, or if he knows, does not
[012] know whether he is alive or dead, or if he is in doubt³ as to which of the several who
[013] claim as heir is the nearer heir, through his seisin he does not acquire a free tenement
[014] for any of them, since he entered into possession in the name of no certain person; in
[015] such circumstances he may maintain himself in possession without acting contrary to
[016] law until it is clear who the heir is.⁴ Hence if no heir appears the inheritance may be his
[017] escheat, and if he is ejected he will recover his seisin as of his free tenement by the
[018] assise of novel disseisin, [that is], until the heir is ascertained. Suppose that a chief
[019] lord finds a younger brother or a bastard son who claims to be the lawful heir in
[020] seisin. Quaere whether without incurring a penalty he can eject such persons without
[021] judgment, when another is the heir apparent. It is evident that he cannot,⁵ for that
[022] is to be done by the heir, not the chief lord, because if such persons, when they have
[023] been ejected, bring an assise against the chief lord the exception of free tenement or
[024] of bastardy does not lie for him. Such matters are no concern of his since there is an
[025] heir apparent. But if there is none, these exceptions would be available to the lord
[026] in the absence of an heir. [I say this unless such [persons] have been so long in possession
[027] through the weakness or negligence of the chief lord that they cannot be ejected
[028] without judgment.] If in the absence of the chief lord the true heir finds a bastard in
[029] possession, or a near heir, as a younger brother, let him eject him at once and without
[030] delay before he has long and peaceful seisin and thus, through time that suffices for
[031] title, a free tenement, [for] he may not do so after a time, nor will he [the heir]
[032] recover by an assise of novel disseisin, because the mere right which descends to
[033] him is not immediately conjoined with seisin, nor does the assise of mortdancestor for
[034] acquiring the seisin of an ancestor lie for him

Notes

1. Supra 156

2. Supra ii, 96, 135, infra 271

3. ‘dubitaverit’

4. Glanvill ix, 6, supra ii, 82, 208, iii, 156

5. Supra 156, infra iv, 300