Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 137

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Bracton Online -- English

Volume 4, Page 137

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[001] he has received a day in the Bench by an essoiner, he will have no essoin at the
[002] Tower, no more than will the tenant, before he has again appeared in court, because
[003] he had all his essoins in court before the justices, just as the tenant. Nor will he have
[004] an essoin before the justices in court, because no essoin follows an appearance at the
[005] Tower; he will no more be given an essoin than the tenant, for if it were given him,
[006] it could, for the same reason, be given the tenant, which ought not to be. If he received
[007] a day in the Bench in person or by attorney, he will have a single essoin at the
[008] Tower, if he wishes, before he appears in court before the justices.¹ He may well
[009] appear at the Tower and in court without an essoin, if he wishes. If he has essoined
[010] himself at the Tower, the essoin will not be judged there but will be sent to court to
[011] be judged before the justices. Nevertheless, if he wishes to do so, despite the essoin,
[012] he may appear with impunity before the justices in court; by the essoin cast at the
[013] Tower the time in between, until he appears in court, will be saved. If he appears at
[014] the Tower and receives a day in the Bench by the constable, he may well essoin himself
[015] before the justices in court, not by virtue of the day given him at the Tower, but
[016] of the day received earlier before the justices in the Bench. When both the demandant
[017] and the tenant appear personally at the Tower on the lawful day, both parties will
[018] be given a day before the justices in the Bench, if they are then resident there, or if
[019] not, when they return, whether² they are to return shortly or after a time. A day
[020] will not be given them before the justices itinerant, whether they are itinerant in
[021] the same county where the land claimed is or in another, but first before the justices
[022] of the Bench; if some³ are then resident in the Bench and others itinerant in
[023] the county where the land claimed is, the justices of the Bench will thereupon give
[024] a day before the justices itinerant, that judgment may thus proceed in proper
[025] order.⁴ It is for that reason that the parties are remitted from the Tower to the
[026] Bench, that the plea may come to an end in the same court in which it began.⁵

If, when the view ought to be made or has been made, the viewers are not lawful; what the essoinee ought to do.

[028] Let us return again to the view of the four viewers and see what follows if the
[029] viewers are not lawful for viewing, so that the view is unlawful, of which something
[030] was said above.⁶ In that case, if the essoinee rises by the view of such viewers, as
[031] where they have granted him a rising, he will be in default, as was said above. It is
[032] better therefore that he remain in bed, or seek a licence to rise before the view has
[033] been attested by such persons;

Notes

1. Infra 142

2. ‘sive’

3. ‘quidam’

4. Supra 116

5. Supra 136

6. Supra 120