Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 15

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Volume 3, Page 15

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[001] he says. And have etc.’ Thus an action lies for the chief lord by reason of escheat and
[002] wardship. Since no ordinary remedy lies for him, since he can [not] speak of his own
[003] seisin or that of his ancestor, recourse must of necessity be had to an extraordinary,
[004] to these writs specially drawn, for any right belonging to him.¹

The writ of intrusion.

[006] ‘[The king to the sheriff etc. Put C. etc.] to show why he intruded himself into so
[007] much land etc. which B. claims to hold of C. son and heir of D. who in her liege power
[008] gave that land to the aforesaid B. with the assent and agreement of the aforesaid
[009] C. her son and heir, and that of the said A. the chief lord of that land, as [B.] says.’
[010] Or in another form:

The writ why he intruded himself.

[012] ‘[The king to the sheriff etc. Put B. etc. to show] why he intruded himself into so much
[013] land etc. which the same B. claims against the aforesaid A. by our writ of right in such
[014] a court, as to which the same A. put himself upon our grand assise and sued out our
[015] writ for having our peace until the arrival of the justices in those parts, into which
[016] they have not yet come, as the same A. says.’ Or in another form:

Another form of the same.

[018] ‘[The king to the sheriff etc. Put A. etc. to show] why he intruded himself into so much
[019] land etc. which ought to revert to the said B. after the death of [D.], who held that
[020] land in dower of the gift of such a one, by reason of a fine levied between the aforesaid
[021] B. and such a one, the ancestor of the said A., whose heir A. is, as [B.] says.’ This form
[022] of the writ lies whenever one has intruded into land held for life (in dower, by the law
[023] of England, or in any other way) which, at the death of the life tenant ought to revert
[024] to the true heir, or to others, by a fine levied or in some other way.² If such [tenants]
[025] alien in their lifetimes a writ of entry will lie, as will be explained below.

If a man remains in possession after the death of his wife.

[027] A man may hold himself in seisin as [tenant] by the law of England after the death of
[028] his wife though no children were born of the marriage. Let this writ then issue: [Because
[029] possession sometimes gives birth to right³ and is taken to be dejure, let the true
[030] heir eject the intruder within a year at most, or if [he cannot], proceed against him by
[031] writ, because for a more distant intrusion no answer will be made him, as [in the roll]
[032] of Michaelmas term in the ninth and the beginning of the tenth years of king Henry
[033] in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, [the case] of Simon de Cockefeld,⁴ [where it was
[034] said] that after a long time, that is, ten or twelve years, the question of intrusion may
[035] not be raised, neither by writ nor without it. If the intruder is ejected quickly, within
[036] a year according to some, before he has

Notes

1. ‘de iure aliqui sibi competente,’ as infra 214; ‘Aliud de eodem’: rubric

2. Infra iv, 37

3. Supra ii, 157, infra 186

4. C.R.R., xii, no. 1377; not in B.N.B.