Calendar

The needs of a king. 19

• England alone uses within her boundaries unwritten law and custom.
• If an unwise and unlearned man ascends the judgment seat.

The author's preamble. 20

• The matter with which it deals.
• The intention of the author.
• The utility.
• The end served.

Laws command and forbid. 21

• He who judges ought to be wise.
• What the punishment for evil judging is.

What law is and what custom. 22

• What justice is.

What jus is. 23

Addicio. 24

What jurisprudence is. 25

• What equity is.
• What the praecepta iuris are.

What private law is. 26

• What natural law is.

What the civil law is. 27

• What the jus gentium is.
• What manumission is.

That all law relates either to persons, things or actions. 29

• The first classification of persons.
• What freedom is.

What bondage is. 30

• Bondsmen are either born unfree or are made such; how they are born unfree.
• How men are made bond.

Who may be called free and who freeborn. 31

• Who are called freedmen.
• Who may and may not be called children and reckoned as such.
• Another classification of men.

Of the hermaphrodite. 32

• Of manumission.
• What belts are.
• What the sword signifies.

The king has no equal. 33

Those who are not sui juris. 34

• Those who are in the potestas of fathers.

How paternal potestas and seignorial potestas are extinguished. 35

• Some are under tutelage or curatorship or wardship.

Bondsmen are under the potestas of their lords. 36

Free men in the manor of the lord king. 38

• Free men under the potestas of lords.

Things and the classification of things: the first division. 39

• A second division.
• A third division.
• Some things are common.

Some things are public. 40

• Some things belong to the universitas.
• Some things belong to individuals.
• Some things are sacred and holy, those consecrated to God.

Some things belong to no one. 41

How the dominion of things is acquired by the jus naturale or the jus gentium. 42

• Of wild beasts.
• Of fishing, hunting, and capture.

When bees are in hives. 43

• Of tame beasts and birds.
• Dominion is acquired by accession according to the jus gentium.

Of accession made by human action, by joining together materials. 45

Of accession made by natural and human forces jointly. 46

Things are acquired by specification. 47

• By confusion.
• By finding.
• By gift.

This belongs above with the matter on the classification of things. 48

• Of servitudes.

Of acquiring the dominion of things by gift inter vivos. 49

• What a gift is.
• How gifts are classified.

Who may give. 51

• Who may not give.

To whom a gift may be made. 54

What things may be given. 56

What things may not be given. 57

What the requirements of a valid gift are. 59

Writ of the same kind: whether he is compos mentis. 61

• Writ to summon the tenant.

That the thing given be certain. 62

That a gift be free and not extorted. 64

Gifts subject to a modus. 67

Gifts may be made subject to a modus with a condition attached. 69

If a gift is made subject to a condition. 71

If a gift is made because of a precedent act or causa. 72

That a condition prevents descent to right heirs. 73

If land is given to a bastard alone or in maritagium. 75

• The dower of a bastard's wife.

If land is given in maritagium; how a gift in maritagium is made. 76

Some maritagia are free. 77

Some maritagia are not free. 78

That a maritagium reverts for failure of heirs. 81

Whether a gift may be made to bondsmen. 84

If a gift is made to a bondsman within the potestas of his lord. 86

If a gift is made to one beyond the potestas of his lord. 88

Whether a bondsman may make a gift. 90

• If a gift is made to another for the life of the donor or donee.

A gift made in free alms. 93

A gift made to the several bastards of a concubine. 95

Whether a husband may make a gift to his wife during marriage. 97

Whether a felon may make a gift after the felony. 99

If a gift is made of another's property. 101

By a gift one causa possidendi is sometimes changed to another. 104

If a gift is made of a thing excepting some portion of it. 105

A donor may impose a law and a condition on a gift. 106

If a gift is made for homage and service or for service alone. 107

Of the kinds of charters. 108

That the justices must not question royal charters nor pass upon them. 109

The words of charters. 111

Of services and customs to be performed. 112

Forinsec services. 114

The warranty clause. 117

The credit to be given charters and other instruments if impugned in court. 119

• What possession is.

How possession is divided. 122

Of liveries. 124

• What livery is.
• Who may make livery.

How livery must be made. 125

If livery is not made. 126

• What he who gives livery transfers.

When the donee begins and the donor ceases to possess. 130

By what persons possession may be acquired for us. 135

Where a gift of a single thing is made to several, together or successively. 137

In what ways possession may be lost. 140

• Whether he to whom a thing is given may give the thing given to another.

Gifts subject to a condition or a servitude. 144

How one ought to use his seisin. 149

How possession once acquired may be lost. 154

How possession and dominium may be acquired by usucapion. 156

How possession of a right not subject to livery is acquired by long use. 158

• On acquiring the dominion of incorporeal things, as rights, liberties and servitudes.

How one ought to use his servitude in common of pasture. 160

How one ought to use a right to present and how seisin is transferred. 161

Of liberties and who may grant liberties and which belong to the king. 166

If one has troubled another contrary to liberties granted by the king. 170

• Writ: why one has troubled another contrary to his liberty.
• On putting forward the plaintiff's case.

Of their reply to the plaintiffs' claim. 171

Of confirmations. 173

• What a confirmation is.

When one may make a confirmation. 174

Of gifts inter mortuos and mortis causa. 177

Wills. 178

On acquiring dominion by purchase. 181

Of letting and hiring. 183

Of the use of clothing. 184

• What inheritance is.

Who ought to be called a lawful heir. 185

How bastards are legitimized. 186

• Of the presumption that the issue ought to be legitimate because born of the wife.

Of the differentiation of children. 187

The nature of heirs, who are near and who nearer, and their seisin. 188

What may make one a nearer heir. 190

Nearer heirs may be many as well as one. 194

Degrees of kinship and succession. 195

Of those who ought to succeed others and the order of succession. 199

• Writ for viewing a woman to discover whether or not she is pregnant.

Writ ordering the constable to receive her into his castle. 202

• Writ at the complaint of the heir that she be examined.

Writ that the sheriff cause her to come before the justices at Westminster. 203

Of one who raises another in his house as son and heir who is neither. 205

• Writ for having the bodies of such a one and his wife before the justices.
• The institution of heirs.

Where partition ought to be made among co-heirs. 208

Writ for appointing justices to make a partition. 209

• Writ appointing justices to be present at a partition.

Writ when the parties by common consent choose others to make the partition. 210

A writ on the same matter. 212

• Writ where the extenders have done nothing in response to the first order.

Writ where the knights appear but the sheriff is negligent. 216

Writ where an extent has been improperly made. 217

• Another writ on the same matter.

Writ to produce the bodies of extenders so they may certify. 219

• The duty of extenders.

Writ to the sheriff for giving seisin to co-heirs after partition. 225

• Of performing and taking homages.

Homage. 227

What homage is. 228

• Who is bound to take homage.
• Who is bound to do homage.

When. 229

• How often.

From what things. 231

By what persons. 232

• How and by what words.
• The oath of fealty.

What should be ascertained before homage is done. 233

• What the effect of homage is.
• How homage is dissolved and extinguished.

If a lord wrongfully defers or refuses to take his tenant's homage. 240

• Of those who are bound to an oath of fealty.
• Of the giving of reliefs.
• What a reasonable relief is.

Who is bound to relief. 245

• To whom is he bound.
• How often.
• When.

Whether relief ought to be given from socage and how much. 248

Whether relief is payable from a fee farm and how much. 249

Of the wardship of heirs. 250

• There are different ages according to the different kinds of heirs and tenements.

Of the heir of a sokeman, in whose wardship he ought to be. 254

Of the marriages of heirs and to whom the marriage ought to belong. 256

When one's fee is so delivered that the marriage of the heir belongs to the lord. 258

When there are several chief lords, both on the father's side and the mother's. 259

To whom a marriage belongs in the case of socage. 263

A provision applicable where one has ravished an heir. 264

Of gifts propter nuptias by way of dower and the constitution of dower. 265

• What dower is.
• What rightful dower is.
• Who can constitute dower.

When and where. 266

• Of the two kinds of dos.

Of what thing. 267

How dower is to be assigned her. 276

That dower ought to be free. 281

Of actions and what an action is. 282

Whence an action arises. 283

• What an obligation is and how it is contracted.

If a stipulation is made subject to a condition. 285

• Acts as the objects of stipulations.

The judicial stipulation. 286

• If several things are made the object of a stipulation.
• Who cannot stipulate.

Why stipulations and obligations were devised. 287

• Of obligations which arise quasi ex contractu.
• Of traditio and conjunction.

By what persons an obligation is acquired for us. 288

• In what ways an obligation is extinguished.

Obligations arise ex delicto or quasi. 289

The first division of actions. 290

Actions in rem for an immovable. 292

• Actions in rem for movables.

What a mixed action is. 293

Some actions are in simplum. 294

• Of civil actions in rem, some are on the possession, others on the property.

Of civil actions in personam; how they arise. 295

• For whom actions arising ex maleficio lie and against whom.

For whom the actio iniuriarum lies and against whom. 296

• For whom the actio quod metus causa lies and against whom.
• For whom the interdict quod vi aut clam lies and against whom.
• For whom the interdict de itinere actuque privato lies and against whom.
• Of the interdict quorum bonorum.
• If several actions are available for the same thing and one has been chosen.

If one has withdrawn from an action in rem after having chosen it. 297

• A third division of actions.
• Where criminal proceedings ought to be determined.

Of the kinds of punishments set upon men because of their iniquities. 298

Where civil actions are to be determined. 300

Where and before what persons civil actions are to be instituted and proved. 302

• What a judicial proceeding is and how civil actions are to be instituted.

Of the judge's power. 304

• Of the division of jurisdictions; of the church and the realm.
• Of the oath the king must swear at his coronation.

For what purpose a king is created; of ordinary jurisdiction. 305

Why there are justices and of delegated jurisdiction. 306

Of the kinds of justices. 307

Of the power of justices. 308

• In what way and when their power and jurisdiction may be determined.

Of the oath the justices shall swear when they have received the office of judge. 309

• Writ close for one of the justices.

Writ patent on the same subject to all the justices together. 310

• Writ close to the sheriff to cause all pleas to come before the justices.
• Writ close of general summons.

Writ close to the sheriff to cause the assise to come. 313

• Writ if four knights are appointed justices for the taking of a single assise.
• Writ close on the same matter to the sheriff that he cause the assise to come.

Writ if a justice of the bench is appointed sole judge with power to assume others. 314

• Writ close to the sheriff on the same matter.
• Writ close on the same matter to be directed to the sheriff.
• Writ for the appointment of justices for inquiries into contentions on complaint.

Writ close to the sheriff on the same matter. 317

• On the arrival of the justices ad omnia placita; their duty.
• Of the order of bringing actions.
• Writ that no one be impleaded without the writ and order of the lord king.

That suit must first be brought on the possession rather than on the property. 320

Failure in four cases. 321

Of the threefold action for things taken by force. 324

How the justices ought to proceed in their eyre and in what order. 327

The oath of the twelve knights chosen to speak the truth in a plea of the crown. 329

• The chapters to which the juries shall answer.
• Of the crime of lese-majesty.

Of the crime of forgery and its species. 337

Of the concealment of treasure. 338

What wreck is; and concerning great fish, that is, sturgeon and whale. 339

If the sworn assises of the realm are not observed. 340

• The crime of homicide and the divisions into which it falls.

Of the office of coroners. 342

• Of inquests: where he was slain.

Of attaching the guilty. 343

• If the slain man is found in fields or woods.
• If the slain man is known or unknown.
• If the slayer has taken to flight.

Of those who are drowned. 344

• Of treasure.
• Where there is rape of virgins.

Of breach of the peace and wounding. 345

Of an approver. 346

• Prisoners ought not to be disseised of their lands but maintained therefrom.

Where a man is found guilty by the inquest. 347

• Of breach of the peace and wounding with the addition of felony.
• Where one is not guilty, a writ that he be released on finding pledges.
• Another writ concerning the same.

When a man fails in his purgation in court christian. 349

At the view of frankpledge. 351

Who may and ought to be outlawed. 353

• A minor cannot be outlawed.

How one ought to prosecute; at how many county courts. 354

Which cause of outlawry ought to be regarded as true and which as presumptive. 356

• Presumptive cause.

Where there was no cause. 357

• Where the wound was not dangerous.
• It may be called void in the following cases.
• Where the accessory is present and the principal has fled, or both have fled.
• If one wishes to mainprise at the fourth county court he shall not be heard.

The accessory is not to be exacted until the principal is convicted. 361

• What an outlaw forfeits by outlawry.

The ‘outlaw's friend’ who knowingly harbours an outlaw. 362

• If he does not flee or defend himself.
• Flight alone involves.
• He forfeits the things pertaining to law.

He forfeits the things pertaining to right. 363

• He is bound to no one nor anyone to him.
• He forfeits actions.
• Outlawry dissolves gifts, sales and all contracts and obligations.
• His chattels belong to the king.
• If he has free land let it be seized into the king's hand at once.
• A writ for restoring land to a chief lord after the year and day.

Another writ on the same matter for the restoration of land. 365

• A writ where the king has alienated within his term or his bailiffs have done so.

Another writ on the same subject. 366

• Where one has made a gift, before conviction or afterwards.

He forfeits nothing before he has been convicted. 367

Inlawry: how outlaws after outlawry are admitted for good reason to the peace. 369

• Where he who was said to be slain returns alive and well.
• A writ where one said to be slain returns alive and well.

Of inlawry and to what an inlaw may be restored. 372

Where there is no cause at all. 373

• A man is restored to nothing but the peace.

What a felon may forfeit. 374

• The king pardons them his suit without prejudice to others.
• The king of his grace may sometimes grant their lives to those restored to the peace.

The reason for devising murder-fines. 379

• What is called murder.

How the countryside is discharged of a murder-fine. 380

• If the slayer has been arrested there will be no murder-fine.
• If they have died by misadventure.
• If the dead man is found in the sea or on the shore.
• Of the oath: how he ought to abjure the realm.
• Of the kinds of exile.

Of homicide through misadventure and accident. 384

That they may be sustained out of their goods. 385

• How an arrested man ought to be brought before the justices.
• When there is one who appeals him.

That in waging the duel the justice must investigate everything with care. 386

• The wager of the duel: if the appellee or the appellor is vanquished.

No one is to take a stranger into his house except in broad daylight. 387

The things of which an appellor ought to speak in his appeal. 388

Several may be appealed of another's death just as one may be. 389

How those appealed ought to make their defence. 390

• Where he wishes to avoid the duel on the ground that he is over age.

Where all the elements of the appeal are in order let the duel be waged at once. 391

• If all the appellors die before the duel is fought.
• Where several appeal one for a death resulting from several wounds.

Where one has appealed several of different mortal wounds. 393

• Let the appellee give gage for defending and the appellor for deraigning.

If there is disagreement as to the record before the justices; what is then to be done. 395

The appellee may except against the appeal. Exceptions against the appeal. 397

• Exceptions: that an appeal does not lie.

Where the appellor has retracted his appeal; if he has made default it is otherwise. 398

When there is no exception let the duel be waged at once. 399

• The form of the oath is as follows:

The oath to be taken on the field. 400

• Let the king's ban be proclaimed.
• If the appellee is vanquished.

If the appellor retracts on the field. 401

• The oath to be taken by the appellor.

If the first appellor against the principal dies or defaults. 402

• The king may proceed ex officio

One is protected from an appeal on account of mayhem. 403

• Where a woman is ravished by force.
• Of those indicated by popular rumour and suspicion.
• The form of the oath is this:
• The words to be pronounced by the justices after the oath taken.
• The general form to be observed in taking oaths before the justices.

Of the peace and woundings committed in breach of the peace. 406

• The words of the appeal.
• B. comes and makes denial.
• The duel: let B. give gage for defending and A. for deraigning

The sheriff testifies with the coroners. 407

But what is to be said of one who castrates another. 408

• An appeal of wounding and mayhem.
• B. makes denial.

Wounding is to be tried if there is no mayhem. 409

• What ought to be termed mayhem.

Where there is disfigurement and not mayhem. 410

• The appeal of breach of the peace and imprisonment.
• The words of the appeal.

B. comes and makes denial. 411

• Of the exceptions against an appeal of this kind.

Of the criminal action of breach of the peace and robbery, and of appeals. 412

• B. makes his denial.
• Where one appeals another of a third person's goods.
• B. comes and makes denial.

An appeal for malicious arson and robbery. 414

• A. appeals B.
• An appeal concerning the rape of virgins.

The words of the appeal of a woman complaining of rape. 416

• The appellee's denial.
• Of exceptions against the appeal.

Where the appellee is convicted by the country; the punishment that follows. 417

• Of those appealed as accessories.

Addition. 418

The cases in which a woman has an appeal. 419

• The appeal for the death of her husband.

The attachment of appellees. 420

• The writ of attachment.
• Another writ on the same matter for the same purpose.

The writ for causing an appeal to come before the justices. 421

A writ to the effect that he be committed to the security of twelve men. 422

• Writ for summoning an appeal before the king.
• The writ where an appeal has been made directly before the king.
• Another writ to the sheriff on the same matter.
• Where a man commits felony upon his own person.

Of the action of theft. 425

• What theft is.
• How many kinds of theft are there?
• One may at the outset sue civilly or criminally.

Of the appeal of larceny. 426

• Where he makes denial, let battle be waged.
• If the appellee chooses the country.

The writ for causing a warrantor to appear by aid. 427

• A warranty is sometimes entered into maliciously and fraudulently.
• Account must be taken of whether what is stolen is large or very small.

If stolen property is found in another's possession. 428

• If a wife is held liable for her husband's theft.
• Where the wife has joined with her husband.

Of manifest theft and of an approver who confesses. 429

• That the sheriff attach those whom the approver appeals.
• Of arresting those appealed by an approver who confesses that he is a thief.
• The approver may appeal several; then thus:
• Of the method of making denial.
• The appellor shall then swear affirmatively.
• If the appellee is vanquished.
• If the approver is vanquished.
• Of the appellee's defence.
• If the approver has done what he promised let the agreement with him be kept.
• Where an appellee has been discharged by the country; that he have his chattels.
• The writ for replevying a man arrested and detained.
• These pleas belong to sheriffs.

Of minor and less serious crimes sued civilly. 437

How one may suffer an injuria through his dependents. 438

A grievous injuria is assessed in many ways. 439

• An injuria may be annulled by dissimulation.
• Of replevin.

If the seizure is unlawful. 440

If the plaintiff complains of both seizure and detainer. 441

• If the lord defaults after the wager of law.
• One cannot deny anything in his opponent's record.

The duty of the sheriff. 442

• When the sheriff or the king's serjeant has viewed the beasts without hindrance.

If law is waged on both sides. 446

• If a servant takes another's beasts in his lord's absence.

When one's beasts have once been released by judgment and seized a second time. 447

• The writ that beasts are to be released.

Volume 3

Of land which ought to revert for various reasons as an escheat to a chief lord. 14

• If one has intruded himself into land which ought to revert.
• By what warrant he intruded.

The writ of intrusion. 15

• The writ why he intruded himself.
• Another form of the same.
• If a man remains in possession after the death of his wife.

The writ of attachment. 16

• Of intrusion.
• If a gift is made to two persons; of intrusion.

How possession lost by wrongful force may be restored by the assise of novel disseisin. 18

Of forcible disseisin, that is, of simple force without arms. 19

For whom the assise lies. 26

If a disseisin is done to several of a thing held in common. 30

For whom the assise does not lie: of possession in the name of another. 33

Against whom the assise lies and in what ways one falls into the assise. 40

Against whom the assise does not lie. 44

To whom the plaint ought to be made. 46

When the plaint ought to be made. 47

The plaint heard, let the king send the writ to the sheriff. 56

The form of the writ of novel disseisin. 57

• The duty of the sheriff when he receives the writ.

If no one appears. 65

Where the tenant held nothing or lied by saying that he did not hold when he did. 67

On the questions to be put when the parties appear in court 68

Of the form of the oath in the assise of novel disseisin. 72

Of the manifold penalty of the disseisor. 75

How the justices ought to inquire into the damages. 76

The exception against the writ or against the jurisdiction. 77

That error is manifold. 79

Of error as to the person: the person himself or his office. 80

• Of error with respect to name and dignity

Of error as to the thing. 81

• Of error as to the reason for an action.
• Of error as to the place.

The exception where the writ has been lost. 82

The exception against the person of the plaintiff; first as to status. 83

Against whom. 84

By whom. 85

Of certain special cases. 93

If one complains that he has been wrongfully disseised. 96

Let him who raises the exception of villeinage have his proof ready. 106

• Some hold freely and by free service and some by free service though not freely.

An exception lies against a plaintiff by reason of the person of the tenant. 118

If one enters immediately after a disseisin. 120

The exception against the assise: if wrongfully and without judgment. 121

The exception against the words ‘he disseised him.’ 124

The exception against the words ‘of a free tenement’ 126

Of the classification of tenements. 128

A common tenement. 129

Of fisheries. 130

Another division of tenements. 131

That long-continued acquiescence is the equivalent of consent. 133

An exception is given a tenant by reason of the tenement. 136

An exception is given the tenant if there is an error in the name of the vill. 137

The assise falls into perambulation. 139

The assise falls completely because of uncertainty. 140

• Of matters which impede restitution, temporarily or permanently.

If the causa of succession falls into the assise. 143

If a gift falls into the assise. 144

• If an agreement or a pact falls into the assise, or the modus of a gift.

Matters which bar restitution by the assise. 148

When a conviction lies and when not. 150

If he who holds by the law of England alleges that he has been disseised. 151

Where the assise is turned into a jury because of trespass. 152

Bastardy also falls into an assise. 156

Writ. 159

If a termor is ejected from his term before its expiration. 161

• Writ for recovering a term.

Of common. 166

• Of common of pasture; how it is acquired.

How common of pasture is lost after it has once been acquired. 167

On the impetration of a writ of common of pasture when one has been disseised. 170

On the duty of the sheriff. 171

• Form of the writ of common of pasture.

Of exceptions against the assise. 174

The replication to the exception. 175

Of the constitution of Merton by William of Ralegh, then justiciar. 179

Of the admeasurement of pasture. 182

Writ as to why one has surcharged, to the sheriff for execution. 183

• The duty of the sheriff in the writ of admeasurement.

Writ brought before the justices on the same matter. 184

Of the plea quo jure. 185

• Writ by what right one exacts common.

Or wrongful nuisances; of servitudes. 189

On wrongful nuisances and the appurtenances of appurtenances. 190

• Writ touching the same.

Form of writ for justicing a person to permit another to have a right of way. 193

Writ of fishery. 194

• If before the justices, then thus.

If a market is established to the nuisance of a neighbouring market. 198

• Writ.

Writ. 200

Another form of writ on the same matter. 202

Of the assise of darrein presentment. 205

The writ of assise of darrein presentment. 206

• If the deforciant or impediant does not appear on the first day; how he is to be resummoned.

Writ that the sheriff cause the jurors to appear. 207

Of the oath of the jurors in the assise of darrein presentment. 210

When both parties appear in court let the plaintiff present his claim. 211

Writ sent to the bishop. 225

Of a tenant in dower who presents a clerk to a church. 226

Quare impedit: When one is summoned to answer why he impedes. 229

• The writ of Quare impedit.

The writ of Quare non permittit. 230

If the impediant is under age. 231

If by agreement. 234

Writ. 235

A writ concerning four sisters, two of whom have husbands and two not. 236

• Writ.

If there is recovery by judgment by reason of a farm. 237

• If charters are produced against a minor.

Another form of writ on the same subject. 238

If the bishop does not admit a clerk on the command of the lord king. 240

Of a prohibition while one is under age. 241

Writ for summoning a bishop to show why he did not admit a clerk. 242

• Another writ on the same matter.
• Another writ on the same matter, where the officials have been ordered several times.

When the bishop appears. 243

Of the assise of mortdancestor. 245

If the chief lord finds the possession vacant. 246

The writ of the assise of mortdancestor. 249

• Another writ: of one who is within age.

Another writ where there are several parceners demandants. 250

• Writ which is mixed in nature, mortdancestor and cosinage.

The manner of proceeding after impetration of the writ, and of essoins. 252

• The writ of resummons if the assise is to be taken outside the county.

Of the form of the oath. 254

The writ for having the bodies of jurors. 255

• A writ for giving seisin after the taking of the assise.

Another writ of another kind. 256

• The writ for giving seisin where the tenant freely acknowledged.

If the justices on their own authority write to the sheriff on behalf of the lord king. 257

• Writ of seisin if by concord.
• Of making an extent where land has been assigned in exchange.

Of the exceptions and answers of the tenant against the assise, why it ought to remain. 258

What is to be done if the original writ has not been shown because it has been lost. 259

The writ for summoning a warrantor. 260

• Of essoins after voucher to warranty

If the warrantor defaults let his land be seized. 261

The writ ‘while the tenant was in seisin.’ 262

Another writ on the same subject ‘while the tenant was in seisin.’ 263

Of the exceptions to be put forward against an assise of mortdancestor. 269

• On whose death the assise ought to be taken.
• How the demandant ought to prove his claim.

‘Was seised’; of seisin ‘on the day he died.’ 270

• If a gift is made to a concubine and her children.

In his demesne etc. 273

Also ‘as of fee.’ 274

The writ says ‘on the day he died.’ 275

If enquiry is made in the assise as to the use of seisin, that is of no importance. 276

If he is the nearer heir. 278

• Of the kinds of heirs.

Who is a nearer heir and why. 279

We must see whether he holds the whole as the ancestor held. 280

Of the tenant's answer to the clauses of the writ. 281

‘If such a one, the ancestor of such a one.’ 282

‘Was seised.’ 285

‘On the day he died.’ 290

‘If such a one is the nearer heir.’ 291

• ‘Which land such a one holds.’

Where the assise of mortdancestor does not lie. 294

If felony has been objected. 297

• If two claim by the assise against one.

What kind of seisin bars the assise. 298

• If a minor claims against a minor.

If a minor sues against one of full age. 304

If there are several tenants in an assise of mortdancestor. 305

If felony is objected against the demandant. 306

Of several different cases. 307

Bastardy falls into the assise. 310

• The exception of sale.

The persons between whom an assise of mortdancestor does not lie. 311

The exception of bastardy in an assise of mortdancestor. 315

If an inquest of bastardy is taken in such an assise. 317

Of cosinage. 318

The writ of cosinage. 319

• The answer to such a writ.

Exceptions against the writ of cosinage. 323

The form of writ for a rector. 327

• Another writ drawn which is like mortdancestor and partly like novel disseisin.

Whether damages are part of the judgment in an assise of mortdancestor. 328

The assise for recognizing whether a tenement is free alms. 329

Form of writ. 330

Form of oath in this assise. 332

Another form, in the manner of a jury. 333

• Of the several remedies to which a parson is entitled as well as a layman.

We must see what and how much the plaintiff has put in his view. 335

Of the conviction or attaint of jurors who have sworn falsely. 336

Who ought to take a conviction and a certification. 338

When a conviction lies and when not. 339

A conviction will lie in all assises except the grand assise. 340

If there is error in the judgment or the oath. 341

Who may take a conviction or certification. 342

Writ for summoning the twenty-four. 343

• Another with respect to an assise of mortdancestor.
• Writ with respect to an assise of darrein presentment.

Of the oath of the twenty-four. 345

What the punishment of those convicted is. 346

• Writ when the twelve amend their verdict.

Whether a conviction may be deferred. 348

Writ when the assise is summoned to certify. 349

Of summoning the twenty-four to certify, as in assises generally. 350

• Form of writ.

Another writ on an assise of mortdancestor to convict twelve. 351

• That an assise is not to be taken on an assise nor a conviction on a conviction.

That a conviction is not to be taken on a conviction. 354

Of the action of dower and how dower is constituted. 357

• The writ of rightful dower.

How the woman ought to set forth her claim. 358

Of claiming the view. 359

• If the tenant vouches a warrantor.
• If he has no warrantor.

That the woman produce the warrantor through whom she claims dower. 360

• If the woman's husband had committed felony.

If the warrantor is in the fealty of the king of France. 361

• A writ for producing the heir and warrantor.
• If she produces someone other than the true heir.

Of two women contending for dower. 363

• If the warrantor who was vouched does not appear, seize by this writ.

A writ for giving seisin to a woman when she has recovered dower. 365

A writ that she recover and the heir provide escambium to the value to the feoffee. 367

In a claim of dower age is sometimes awaited for a special reason. 368

Writ where a woman has recovered her seisin of a specified dower. 369

That a fine made in the king's court does not bar recovery of a specified dower. 370

• Exceptions against a woman claiming dower.

The exception that she was never married to such man. 372

• The writ for sending an inquest to court christian.

Of the duty of the ordinary. 373

Writ for giving seisin to the woman when the inquest has found for her. 375

• If the person summoned neither comes nor essoins himself.

That there shall be an inquiry by the country where suit and other proof is lacking. 379

If an instrument is offered to prove the modus of the constitution. 380

• If she was endowed by consent of the father, mother or another.

If she was endowed by consent. 381

• An exception lies for the heir because more than one woman is claiming dower.

The writ for this purpose, that is concerning two wives. 384

The justices were consulted as to the procedure in taking such an inquest. 385

An exception lies against a woman by reason of her silence. 386

• If two women claim dower it does not much matter about priority.

Of the two women claiming dower by reason of one man. 387

• An exception against the woman if she claims half of a knight's fee, that only a third.
• The exception that her husband was never so seised there of that he could endow her.

A writ to the effect that he was never so seised that etc. 391

If the husband has aliened his land before marriage. 394

If a man's son and heir commits felony before the assignment of dower. 396

• Against a woman who says ‘whereof she has nothing.’

Of the woman's replication. 397

• If the land from which she claims dower had been granted at farm and for a term.

If the dower sought, as to which an inquest is to be made, lies within two counties. 398

• Of giving the woman seisin where no objection can be raised against her claim.

If dower is acknowledged and rendered to her in court. 399

• How a woman may lose her dower after she is in possession and for what reasons.

Of formulating and putting forward the woman's claim. 401

• After the claim has been set forth.

If a warrantor is vouched. 402

Of admeasurement of dower in divers counties. 403

When the parties are present let the plaintiff put his claim forward in this way. 404

What belongs to a woman after the constitution and assignment of dower. 405

• When, after delays, she appears.
• She may answer the plaint in this way.

The woman can answer to the waste. 407

• When it is necessary to make the view of waste.

If a woman is convicted of waste, what penalty follows. 408

• It is important whether one commits waste in his own property or another's.

If a guardian is convicted of waste; the penalty that follows. 411

Volume 4

Writ if one demises for a term that has passed. 22

Writ if the jurors ought to come before the justices. 26

• If the tenant wishes to except.
• When the parties appear in court.

Writ if an heir claims that his ancestor demised for a term. 30

Writ if dower has been aliened by a second husband. 34

• Writ if the husband aliens the wife's dower.
• Writ which lies for the heir if the wife aliens her dower.
• If the husband aliens his wife's dower.
• If the wife aliens dower.

Writ if by an abbot without the assent of his chapter. 35

• Writ if by a cellerer or procurator without the assent of the abbot.

If by a bailiff against the will of the lord. 36

• Writ if a felon aliens after the felony committed.
• Writ if a villein aliens the land he holds in villeinage.
• Writ if by one who was not of sound mind.
• If through one who held only for life, in whatever way.

If one is in by intrusion. 37

• If a husband sells the inheritance of the children of his wife who are in his wardship.

While he was within age and in wardship. 38

• If the heir claims on an ancestor's seisin.

Writ for pasture given for a term that has passed. 39

• If the parties put themselves on a jury: according to the different writs.

A jury if without assent. 40

• If through intrusion.

Writ: if by a wife who had nothing except dower etc. 41

If a jury is to be summoned before the justices. 42

• If a termor claims his own seisin.
• How and what is changed.

Of the tractate on the writ of right. 47

• Of the form of writs.

The writ of right where land is partible; of socage. 48

The writ of right to bailiffs of a soke or guardians of honours. 49

• The writ of right if one ought to hold of the king in chief.
• The writ of right to a guardian where the heir is under age.
• The writ to bailiffs of manors according to the customs of manors.

The writ to bailiffs of boroughs. 50

• The writ of right of dower, where the widow has a portion.
• The writ of right of services and customs which is directed immediately to the sheriff.
• How pleas are transferred from the courts of lords to the county court.

How the default of a court may be proved. 52

When the plea has been transferred to the county court. 54

If a warrantor is vouched in the county court. 55

• If the tenant has put himself on the grand assise in the county.
• The writ of peace pending the coming of the justices.

Let a prohibition issue to the guardian or bailiff. 56

• If there is a plea in the county about services and customs.

The writ of peace in gavelkind. 57

• The writ for arraigning the assise.

On arraigning the assise when the plea of right concerns services and customs. 58

• The writ for arraigning a jury of gavelkind in place of the grand assise.
• The writ of pone at the petition of the demandant.

Another pone concerning services and customs at the petition of the demandant. 59

• Pone at the petition of the tenant, with the reason.

Because the duel is waged contrary to the custom of the realm. 60

Of summonses after the plea has been transferred to the great court. 61

Of the manner of proceeding after the summons. 64

Of the excuses of him who does not come at a summons. 71

The excuses of one who does not come to court after summons. 72

Essoins of the service of the lord king of this side the sea. 78

Who may essoin himself. 80

If there are several demandants. 85

• If a tenant has appointed an attorney.

If the attorney dies while the principal lord of the suit is upon pilgrimage. 87

If a tenant vouches several warrantors or one. 88

Who may essoin himself after the duel waged. 89

When? 90

• Where?
• How often?

The essoin of bed-sickness. 91

When and in what way the essoin of bed-sickness ought to be cast. 92

How often. 93

• If a husband and wife essoin themselves together of bed-sickness.

To what writs the two essoins of difficulty in coming and of bed-sickness belong. 97

• Where the essoin of bed-sickness lies; of a distant entry.

Where a writ of right is turned into a writ of entry by the count and conversely. 98

How essoins of difficulty in coming ought to be enrolled; of service of the lord king. 99

• Of the enrolment of the simple essoin of difficulty in coming.

If a warrantor is vouched. 100

How essoins of difficulty in coming are judged. 101

How the essoin of bed-sickness is enrolled. 103

• If an essoin of difficulty in coming is joined to an essoin of bed-sickness.

In whose person an essoin of bed-sickness does not lie. 104

How essoins of bed-sickness are to be judged. 107

How essoins of bed-sickness and of difficulty in coming are returned in order. 108

Who are to be exacted in returning an essoin. 109

How essoins of difficulty in coming are returned. 110

• Which essoiners will swear and which find pledges.

What it is to warrant an essoin by oath. 111

What is to be done if a mistake is made in the day given. 113

• The writ for sending four knights to view one essoined of bed-sickness.

Of the duty of the sheriff when he has received the writ. 115

Enrolment if the viewers do not come. 116

Writ for attaching the knights. 117

Another writ. 118

If one of the viewers is infirm or incapacitated, let another be put in his place. 119

How licence to rise is to be sought. 122

• If the tenant after licence sought and granted is arrested by his adversary: the writ.
• When the four knights come to the place where the essoinee ought to lie.

When the knights come to attest ‘languor.’ 125

How the essoinee ought to keep ‘languor’ and how hold himself. 128

• If the essoinee has been found wandering, how he ought to be arrested.

How and when an essoinee ought to come to the Tower of London or send a responsalis. 131

Of the appearance of the essoinee. 135

Of the duty of the constable. 136

• Writ for viewing a man who is essoined in the county court of bed-sickness.

Of the essoin of vill-sickness. 144

Where the essoin of vill-sickness does not lie. 145

Of those who are contumacious and do not appear in court after lawful summons. 147

Excuses for one who does not appear. 148

What ought to be done after default in a plea of advowson. 151

• How a summons and default is denied by wager of law.

What the procedure is if a default has been made. 153

• Writ for having seisin after one has recovered by default.

How a default may be cured by the service of the lord king. 155

• Writs which excuse because of the service of the lord king.

How absence is excused in many ways. 157

If after default a love-day is taken. 159

Who may remit a default. 160

• If default is made in a mixed action.
• If there is a double action in a single writ.
• If the demandant does not come nor the writ and the tenant has essoined himself.

If a husband and wife claim and one defaults. 163

The little cape: where one defaults after he has appeared in court. 165

The form of the writ called the little cape. 167

If one defaults in a mixed action. 168

• If two actions, one personal the other real, lie against a man in one writ.

That the demandant may change his intentio in part. 171

How the count of the descent to the demandant is made by single degrees. 172

If the count ought to be made from the right line to the transverse. 173

• If the eldest dies in the lifetime of the common father.

If an abbot or prior or other collegiate men claim by writ of right. 175

To whom the right may descend. 177

That no right can descend to a donee from the seisin of a donor or his ancestor. 178

On claiming the view and why the view is to be made. 180

• Of making the view or what amounts to it: to whom it is made and to whom not.
• Whether the view lies for incorporeal things, as rights.

If a right of advowson is claimed and there are several churches. 184

If the right of advowson ought to be taken into the lord king's hand. 185

• Where the view or the equivalent lies.

Of the enrolment after the view granted. 186

Writ for making the view, if of the whole. 187

If view of common of pasture is claimed in a writ of right quo iure. 188

• In quo warranto with respect to the lands of the Normans.
• On the day given, after the view had, let the essoins begin again.

If an inquest is made, then thus. 190

Of vouching a warrantor after the view. 191

• What warranty is.
• Who may vouch a warrantor and on what grounds.

Who may be vouched to warranty. 192

If a minor is vouched to warranty. 193

• Sometimes a husband vouches his wife to warranty.
• If a minor is vouched let the tenant at once show a charter of other matter.

A minor is sometimes vouched to warranty without the production of a charter. 195

• By homage taken the lord who took the homage is bound to warrant.

If the vouchee denies the homage. 196

• By a chirograph and fine levied.
• A warranty may bind tacitly or expressly.
• If the warrantor is within a liberty where the king's writ does not run.
• The writ if he cannot produce him without aid.
• They may essoin themselves.

Writ for taking land because of default. 203

• Seize so much land from the inheritance of such a one.

If several warrantors make default. 205

• The demandant will recover his seisin by the default; the writ for giving him seisin.

If there are several warrantors, some of whom default and some do not. 207

Take to the value from the warrantor's land: the little cape. 208

• Writ for giving seisin to the demandant and escambium to the value to the tenant.
• When the intentio has been propounded against the warrantor.

If the warrantor has nothing whence to make escambium. 213

If only homage. 216

When one is not bound to warrant. 218

• The exception that the donor was never in seisin.

That he is neither the feoffee nor his heir. 219

• Where one has remitted and quitclaimed.
• And so if saving the right.

If the vouchor held only for life; if certain persons are excepted. 220

• Where the gift provides that the donor is not bound to warranty.

One is not bound with respect to his tenant's incumbrance. 223

• Of the recovery of escambium where it has been given.
• A warranty is sometimes suspended for a time because of minority or death.

A warranty sometimes is suspended by the death of the warrantor. 225

If one vouches two or more to warranty, as a husband and wife. 226

• A warranty is suspended because of uncertainty, by reason of a child in the womb.
• If the vouched warrantor has been appealed of life and members.

Of him who ought to stand in the place of the heir. 228

• We must see whether the warrantor who died held in fee or for life.
• If there is no exception or defence.

If the warrantor holds of the lord king by serjeanty. 232

• The extent and valuation if he who vouched the warrantor added something.
• If an extent ought to be made in connexion with escambium.

A case where one may have the principal thing and escambium as well. 233

If one impleaded in England has vouched a warrantor resident in Ireland. 234

• If the warrantor does not come and defend his tenant.
• Let the witnesses be summoned. But what if they are resident in different counties?
• An inquest as to whether he was of sound mind.

If the inquest is by the witnesses only, by consent of the parties. 237

• If a thing has been given to two, let there then be an enquiry as to priority.
• If an advowson has been given to two.

If the enquiry as to priority ought to be made by witnesses and the country. 238

• If an inquest ought to be made in the county court and not before the justices.

If the witnesses are resident in divers counties. 239

• If in the county court: an interlaced writ.

If the witnesses and recognitors do not come on the first day. 240

• Inquests of this kind are varied according to the diversity of pleas.
• When the witnesses and recognitors appear in court.

A charter may be proved otherwise than by witnesses. 242

• A seal may be proved by comparison.

If several instruments are produced. 243

• Another kind of warranty, that is, warranty of charter.
• Writ of warranty of charter.

If he does not come, let the order of attachments be observed. 244

Of exceptions. 245

• What an exception is.
• Of the kinds of exceptions.

When exceptions are to be raised and when not. 246

• Some exceptions must be raised before and some after the view.

A replication lies against an exception. 247

• A triplication lies against a replication.
• Some exceptions are perpetual and some temporary.
• One may use several exceptions.

An exception may be proved in many ways. 248

• Not by suit.
• Not by a single voice.
• First of the exception raised against the jurisdiction.
• What jurisdiction is and how is it divided.

What forum the plaintiff ought to follow; what matters pertain to the secular court. 249

• If a man has chosen one judge he may not easily have recourse to another.

The judge ought to decide whether he has jurisdiction. 250

We have spoken of a case where there was consent; now where it is against his will. 252

• To judges, forbidding them to hold a plea touching lay fee.

That he not sue. 253

• Of divers kinds of prohibitions.
• Prohibition as to advowsons. Indicavit judicibus.

Writ of prohibition ostendit nobis, drawn by the justices according to the complaint. 255

• Writ in the above case.
• To whom a prohibition ought to be directed.
• Writ for replying to the consultation of the judges.

Another writ of a different kind in the same matter, if clerk sues clerk. 263

A prohibition lies by reason of the persons concerned and the thing in question. 265

• Also by reason of a contract.
• Also by reason of delict.

When and in what matters a prohibition does not lie. 266

A prohibition does not lie by reason of something accessory. 267

Actions cannot be bequeathed. 268

• A prohibition does not lie in a testamentary cause.
• If by his own act he is made subject to the other jurisdiction.

It will not lie for a recent spoliation. 269

• Nor in a restitutory action.
• Nor because of negligent prosecution.
• Writ to arrest an excommunicated person directed by a bishop to the lord king.
• If the bishop or other ordinary has fraudulently brought about the arrest.

When one has been rightfully excommunicated. 271

Writ for the attachment of judges if they proceed contrary to the prohibition. 272

• For the attachment of judges appointed by authority of letters of the lord pope.

If by better pledges. 273

When the parties have appeared in court. 274

• Of proving his intentio.

How the words of a wager of law are to be formulated. 276

• It is important which of them first clears himself.

Concerning the answer of the judges. 277

How an exception is to be raised against the jurisdiction of a superior justice. 278

Against the jurisdiction of an inferior justice. 279

The exception against the person of the justice and the reasons for recusation. 280

Of the jurisdiction of greater and lesser judges. 281

• Whether the consent of private persons may change the jurisdiction.

Of the exception against the writ; where it ought to fall and where it ought not. 284

What a writ is, and which are original and which magistral. 285

The exception against the demandant arising from his person. 293

Who may allege bastardy. 300

Against whom. 301

• Between what persons.
• When it has been raised, with the reason, proof must follow.

An enquiry as to bastardy is sent to court christian by writ. 302

The form of the writ. 303

• He against whom bastardy is objected must prove that he is legitimate.

Writ when bastardy is raised against one in seisin. 304

• That his father never married his mother.

Writ that he was born before marriage. 305

• Of the duty of the ordinary.

When the inquest has been made let the plea be at once resummoned by this writ. 306

• On the day of the summons he who is summoned may be essoined, if he wishes.

What the effect of legitimacy proved is. 307

• An exception because of incurable disease, as in the case of a leper.

Also because of crime, if a man or any of his ancestors has been convicted of felony. 310

• Writ that a minor not answer while under age.

If a woman of full age possessing an inheritance is married to a minor or conversely. 316

Of proof of age by presumption, by bodily appearance. 320

Writ to resummon a plea which remained without day because of minority. 322

Of resummoning pleas put without day for other reasons. 323

• Because of the eyre of the justices.

If for the king's service. 324

• If because of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
• If the plea was sent to court christian for some reason, as in a plea of dower.
• If he is in the lord king's service beyond seas, with regard to an advowson.

If there ought to be a general resummons to the Bench. 325

• Writ to the sheriff that he cause it to be proclaimed.
• Exception arising from the person of the demandant because of leprosy.
• Of arresting an excommunicate; thus sword aids sword.
• The king will order the sheriff.

Exception against a demandant because his status is in doubt, for several reasons. 329

The exception arising from the delict of spoliation, until he has been restored. 330

• The exception that he has parceners without whom etc.

That the parcener is in the allegiance of the king of France. 331

• For summoning parceners.

If one of the parceners dies when all are named in the writ. 334

• When one of the parceners holds the whole inheritance.
• If the inheritance is divided among the parceners.

There are some who hold in common but not as co-heirs. 335

• The exception that he cannot answer without the assent of such a one, a superior.

If a parcener is deaf or dumb. 339

If an exception lies for the tenant on the thing itself. 340

• The demandant must describe the thing he claims with its appurtenances.

When he has had the view. 341

The exception that he holds nothing therof. 343

If he has been anticipated by the summons. 344

If the tenant does not hold the whole because another holds so much of the appurtenances. 345

• That it was once among the appurtenances but afterwards ceased to be.

Inquest whether he does or does not hold the whole. 346

If the tenant acknowledges that he does not hold the whole in fee, only part. 347

• If one claims a manor with all the appurtenances to which an advowson is appurtenant.

‘In such a vill,’ it is said; we must see what ought to be called a vill. 349

Several may have right, one a greater, the other a lesser. 351

There are those who have as much right. 352

• Also that the tenant has a wife whose right is in question.
• That the descent may be obstructed by a felony committed by some ancestor.
• An exception also lies for the tenant because of res judicata.

An exception also lies because of silence, because he did not put in his claim. 354

And when? 355

Who is prejudiced when no claim was put in. 356

• Excuses for not putting in a claim.
• He is excused if he was then in prison.

Also if he is so infirm that he is unable to distinguish and has lost his memory etc. 357

• If a fine has been made which cannot be observed or hold good as where the fine is void.
• If at the time of the plea neither he nor his ancestor had right.

If the fine was made in secret, before the lawful time, that is, at least a month. 358

• One is also excused if he speaks of his own seisin.
• In some cases he is not excused.

The exception of fine made. 359

• By the law of England if he has an offspring who utters a cry which is heard.

Of a supposititious child. 361

• If it is a monster and for a cry utters a roar.

The reply to the foregoing exception. 362

• If there is no heir in existence and the tenant keeps himself in seisin by force.

How we must proceed against those who are contumacious in a personal action. 363

• In an actio injuriarum.
• In a criminal action.

Enrolment after the default. 364

Writ for attaching by better pledges. 366

• How and when pledges are to be amerced.

Writ that he be distrained by his lands and chattels, and further distresses, in order. 367

If the sheriff has been negligent. 369

• Writ to the sheriff sicut alias.

Of the deceit of the sheriff. 370

• Of the sheriff's excuse because of a liberty.

Writ that the sheriff not omit because of a liberty. 372

If a clerk refuses to find a surety because of the privilege of his order. 373

That the formal order of attachments is not observed everywhere or in every case. 377

• If the defendant ought to come at once because of the plaintiff's privilege.