Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 334

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Volume 2, Page 334

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[001] the same terms let the bailiffs of Romney, the bailiffs of Hythe, the bailiffs of
[002] Dover and the bailiffs of Sandwich be addressed, that each of these ports may have
[003] individual letters in the aforesaid form. And since there is often strife between
[004] the men of the Cinque Ports and the men of Yarmouth and Dunwich let a writ
[005] be addressed to the sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in these terms:

Writ to the sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk to inform the men of Yarmouth and Dunwich.

[007] ¹‘The king to the sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, greeting. Know that we have caused
[008] all the pleas of the Cinque Ports to be summoned at such a day at Shipway as they
[009] are wont and ought to be held before the justices at Shipway. Therefore we order
[010] you to inform the men of Yarmouth and the bailiffs of Dunwich so that if anyone
[011] wishes to complain of someone who belongs to or is within the liberty of the Cinque
[012] Ports he may then be at Shipway before our aforesaid justices to put forward his
[013] plaint and receive justice thereon. Witness etc.’

Of the crime of lese-majesty.

[015] ²[Since of those crimes that are called] capital, which lead to corporal punishment,
[016] sometimes death,³ sometimes dismemberment,⁴ according as they are major or
[017] minor, some are public and some private,⁵ and of the public crimes⁶ some carry a
[018] heavier punishment because of the person against whom they are directed, as the
[019] crime of lese-majesty,⁷ as where something is done against the person of the king
[020] himself, a crime which surpasses all others with respect to the punishment inflicted,
[021] we therefore must first turn to this crime of lese-majesty. The crime of lese-majesty
[022] takes many forms, one of which is where one rashly ⁸compasses the king's death,
[023] or does something or arranges for something to be done to the betrayal of the lord
[024] king or of his army, or gives aid and counsel or assent to those making such
[025] arrangements,⁹ even though what he has in mind is not carried into effect.¹⁰
[026] ¹¹Anyone, a free man or a bondsman, is admitted to make accusation of this crime,¹²
[027] or a minor under age,

Notes

1. Rot. Litt. Cl., ii, 214 (1227), where the writ is directed to another addressee

2. Supra i, 138-40 (full collation)

3. ‘supplicium’

4. Glanvill, i, 2; supra 290

5. Tancred, 158; Richardson in Traditio, vi, 70-1

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8-9. Glanvill, xiv, 1: ‘ipsum accusatum machinatum fuisse vel aliquid fecisse in mortem regis vel seditionem regni vel exercitus, vel consensisse vel consilium dedisse vel auctoritatem praestitisse’; supra 298

10. Infra 342; cf. 361, 392, iii, 42

11-12. Glanvill, xiv, 1: ‘Admittitur autem ad huiusmodi accusationem quilibet liber homo maior. Infra aetatem autem constitutus si quem appellaverit, attachiabitur is qui appellat ut supra expositum est. Rusticus quoque admittitur’; reading: ‘huiusmodi,’ as Gl.; infra 397, 438