Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 394

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Volume 2, Page 394

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The first exception, a general one is every appeal: whether suit was properly made according to the law of the land.

[002] There is this general exception, the first in every appeal, that suit has not been
[003] properly made, for he who wishes to appeal ought to sue properly.¹ He to whom
[004] an injuria has been done² ought to raise the hue at once, as soon as he can, and go
[005] with it to the neighbouring and nearer vills and there make known the wicked and
[006] wrongful acts that have been done. He ought next to go to the king's serjeants, if
[007] they can be found, and then to the coroners, and thence without delay to the next
[008] county court,³ [if it is held on the first or second day after the felony committed
[009] his suit is sufficient (provided he has raised the hue) if he comes to the county court
[010] without seeking out the serjeants and coroners, because they are all bound to be
[011] there on the day of the county court. It suffices for suit if the evil deeds committed
[012] are immediately shown to the king or to the justices if they are present, and there
[013] he will be told to go to the sheriff and coroners.]⁴ ⁵the first, [where], in the presence
[014] of the sheriff and coroners let him make his appeal by words constituting an
[015] appeal, as⁶ will be explained below.⁷ And let the sheriff and coroners cause all the
[016] words of the appeal, just as they are pronounced before them, to be enrolled in
[017] order,⁸ and the form of the appeal, that is, only this, neither more nor less: first,
[018] to which county court the appellor came after the felony committed, that is,
[019] to the first, the second or third,⁹ and, in an appeal of homicide, how and in what
[020] words he propounded it. If it is an appeal of breach of the peace and wounding,
[021] what kind of wounds they were, fresh or old, and in what part of the body and
[022] of what length and depth.¹⁰ If the appeal is one of robbery, of what goods, and
[023] whether his own or another's.¹¹ If of coined money, he must state the number and
[024] kind of coins; if of bullion, its value, and if of wrought metal, its nature and value;
[025] if of clothes, their colour and value; if of cloth, the colour, value and number of
[026] ells; if of an animal, then the kind, the coat and the value.¹² If it is an appeal of
[027] breach of the peace and imprisonment, inquiry must then be made into what kind
[028] of imprisonment, whether prison or mere detention, and whether in fetters or
[029] without, in irons or in stocks or both.¹³ If it is an appeal of arson, when it occurred
[030] and all the circumstances.¹⁴ If an appeal of rape, then whether garments were torn
[031] and whether blood was shed by

Notes

1. Reading: ‘bene sequi debet, Debet’

2. ‘fuerit’

3. Supra 65, infra 406, 407

4. Infra 415

5. Om: ‘Ad proximum,’ repetition of line 9

6. ‘ut’

7. Infra 406, 408

8. Infra 415

9. Infra 395

10. Infra 407

11. Supra 295, infra 399, 412-13, 426

12. Infra 412, iv, 342

13. Infra 410

14. Infra 414