Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 103

Harvard Law School Library

Bracton Online -- English

Volume 4, Page 103

Next

Go to Volume: Page:

[001] and of bed-sickness, [the essoin of bed-sickness always follows the essoin of difficulty
[002] in coming, which precedes it,¹ sometimes immediately and sometimes not, as
[003] where an essoin of the service of the lord king intervenes,]² that is, a writ of right
[004] of land and the other writs of right named above.³ The essoin of bed-sickness ought
[005] to be cast on the third day inclusively before the day given by the essoiner in the
[006] essoin of difficulty in coming.⁴

How the essoin of bed-sickness is enrolled.

[008] [If there is one tenant and one demandant it ought to be enrolled as follows, first
[009] let the name of the county where the essoinee lies be written in the margin,⁵
[010] whether he lies in the same county or in another, then thus: ‘Such a one [essoined
[011] himself] at such a place,’ in the same county or in another,⁶ wherever the essoinee
[012] lies. If there are several tenants holding together in undivided shares, all may essoin
[013] themselves of bed-sickness together and on the same day, if they wish, [or separately],
[014] and let the enrolment be made of each by himself, according to the form of
[015] the first essoin,⁷ and according as the essoinee lies in the same county where the
[016] land is or in another. All may have ‘languor’ or some, or none, according as the
[017] four knights, the viewers, adjudge ‘languor’ to all⁸ or do not. If they adjudge ‘languor’
[018] to all together, or to some or to only one, there will then be only a single
[019] ‘languor’ because of the unitary nature of the right the essoinees have.⁹ Hence if
[020] all except¹⁰ one have licence to rise at some time after the essoin of bed-sickness,
[021] and one holds himself to ‘languor’ and has the year and day, none will thenceforth
[022] have an essoin of bed-sickness because all of them have ‘languor’ together, either
[023] by some of them or by one only.¹¹

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

[025] The essoin of difficulty in coming is sometimes joined to the essoin of bed-sickness
[026] by reason of several who hold in common and have essoined themselves successively;
[027] let the essoin of difficulty in coming then be enrolled in the common form
[028] after the essoin of bed-sickness. And what is said of one may be understood of
[029] several who have essoined themselves of difficulty in coming. If some of several
[030] essoin themselves of bed-sickness and the others appear, though they are not essoined
[031] of difficulty in coming let them have the same day the essoinee would have¹²
[032] if passing illness were awarded him, and so of the demandant. If the essoinee does
[033] not come on that day, nor the knights who viewed him, they will have another day.]
[034] Suppose that on the second day before the day given by [his] essoiner in the essoin
[035] of difficulty in coming the tenant essoins himself of bed-sickness; he will be in default
[036] if the demandant claims judgment, and much more so if he so essoins himself
[037] on the day of the plea or on the morrow,

Notes

1. ‘praecedit’

2. Infra 142; cf. supra 91, 96

3. Supra 97

4. Supra 92; continued after brackets

5. Supra 100

6. Om: ‘comitatu . . . talem locum’

7. ‘essonii’

8. ‘omnibus’

9. Supra 93, infra 114, 141

10. ‘praeter,’ all MSS

11. Supra 94

12. ‘haberet’