Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 217

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Volume 4, Page 217

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[001] For time is not to be allowed him except for good reason, as where the documents
[002] have been so deposited that he cannot make them available immediately, in which
[003] case a lawful delay will be given him for proving the instruments. If he says that he
[004] had the instruments but they were lost accidently, I see nothing other than that he
[005] prove the accident.¹ When the tenant has produced instruments and shown why the
[006] vouchee ought to warrant, as was briefly touched upon above,² let the vouchee answer
[007] and show why he ought not to do so.

If the king is vouched to warranty on the gift of his ancestor, we must see who is an ancestor of the king.

[009] If the king is vouched to warranty in the proper manner³ we must ascertain who his
[010] ancestors are, for he is not bound to warrant the gifts⁴ and feoffments of kings who
[011] reigned before the Conquest, for he is not their heir and accordingly is not bound to
[012] warrant, unless by his own deed, as where he has bound himself to warrant by a confirmation,
[013] He is bound to warrant his own absolute feoffment or that of his ancestors,
[014] unless a condition or modus provides to the contrary. But his pleasure must always be
[015] awaited, since no requirement may be imposed upon him.⁵ If he is vouched with respect
[016] to an absolute feoffment of his ancestors and his own absolute confirmation, he
[017] is then bound to warrant, but if the gift is absolute and the confirmation conditional
[018] or subject to a modus, as where it is said ‘according as the charter of such a king, our
[019] ancestor, rightfully attests,’⁶ then that will be preliminary. It must first be ascertained⁷
[020] whether the first gift was rightfully made or not, and the matter settled accordingly.
[021] When one so names the lord king as warrantor this is wont to be done
[022] [formerly] with the protestation that if this should not suffice the tenant will say
[023] something else, [which now has gone out of court,] since such voucher was sometimes
[024] found frivolous and, so to speak, void.

If a private person is vouched to warranty by reason of his or his ancestors' charter; exceptions against the charter.

[026] If a private person is vouched to warranty by reason of his own or his ancestors'
[027] charter, an answer may be made to such in many ways. First, that the charter is void
[028] in itself, because of an erasure in a suspicious place or because of the counterfeit seal
[029] attached; the first may be proved by inspection, the second by a comparison of seals.⁸

Notes

1. Supra 27, 41, infra 220

2. Supra 215

3. Supra 197

4. ‘donationes’

5. Supra 159

6. Supra ii, 177

7. ‘inquiri debet’

8. Infra 242