Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 286

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Volume 4, Page 286

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[001] of the propounder, the demandant, and the variety of answers of the respondent, the
[002] exceptor. There are also writs called magistral,¹ which are often varied according to
[003] the various kinds of cases, deeds and plaints. Actions are different and diverse, for
[004] some are personal, some real and some mixed,² [and] there will be as many formulas
[005] for writs as there are kinds of actions, for no one may sue without a writ, since without
[006] a writ the other is not bound to answer, unless he wishes to do so,³ in which case no
[007] injuria is done him since volenti et scienti non fit injuria.⁴ When several actions for the
[008] same thing lie for a person, several writs lie for him, but he must sue by one, just as
[009] by one action, the proper order being observed.⁵ ⁶The king's writ ought to contain no
[010] irregularity and no error,⁷ It ought to appear in its original form, [especially if it
[011] is patent or open, because some original writs are open and some close,]⁸ without
[012] erasure and without deletion.⁹ If an erasure is found, we must then see in what place
[013] it occurs, by whom it was made and when. In what place, whether in the narration of
[014] fact or of law. If in fact, the writ falls as suspect, for facts and names ought not to be
[015] changed, but laws may be written in any way.¹⁰ By whom, whether by the chancellor
[016] himself or, rashly daring, by another as the justice's clerk or the sheriff's, at the
[017] suggestion of one of the parties, in which case all, those who did the act and those who
[018] consented to it, are in the mercy and at the will of the lord king with respect to all
[019] their goods, and may in addition be punished as forgers.¹¹ [That such persons may
[020] be accused of forgery is proved [in the roll] of Michaelmas term in the fourth and the
[021] beginning of the fifth years of king Henry in the county of Hertford, [the case] of
[022] Ralph Harange.]¹² When, that is, whether it was done before the writ has been read
[023] and heard¹³ in court or after.¹⁴ It also falls if it contains this sort of forgery, if a
[024] counterfeit seal of the lord king is attached, either completely false or a genuine seal
[025] falsely attached by the industry of forgers. In that case the crime of lese-majesty is
[026] committed,¹⁵ and such persons, if they are laymen, are punished by capital punishment;
[027] if clerks, they will suffer the penalty of degradation

Notes

1. Supra ii, 370; Selden Soc., vol. 87, lxiv, lxxx

2. ‘Actiones sunt diversae et variae, quia quaedam sunt personales . . . reales . . . mixtae’; om: ‘Et quorum’; ‘secundum quod’

3. Supra ii, 317

4. ‘fit’

5. Supra ii, 319

6. New paragraph

7. Supra iii, 78

8. Om: ‘et sive . . . debent,’ a connective

9. C. 6.33.3: supra iii, 78, iv, 242; Drogheda, 130, 353

10. Supra iii, 78, iv, 242

11. Supra ii, 337, iii, 78

12. C.R.R., ix, 340 (Hertford); not in B.N.B.

13. Supra iii, 78: ‘publice auditum’

14. Om: ‘Et sic . . . impetratum’

15. Supra ii, 335