Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 126

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Volume 4, Page 126

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[001] the counsel of the justices, and let them again come and testify.¹ If the justices do
[002] not examine, and the essoinee rises on an unlawful day given him by the knights,
[003] that must be blamed on them, not on the knights, because of their simplicity and
[004] inexperience, not on the essoinee, because he obeys what is decided. ²<But whether
[005] the infirmity is ‘languor’ or not, why cannot the knights appoint an attorney, so
[006] that the plea may proceed by attorney, as may be done by the essoinee if after the
[007] year and day he cannot come; he may send a responsalis? I answer that they cannot,
[008] because they are not sent for that purpose, and therefore they have no power even
[009] if the essoinee so wished, nor may the essoinee be constrained to appoint an attorney
[010] unless he wishes.> But if the justices, when they have examined, send the
[011] knights again and they do not view, nor does the demandant sue against them, it
[012] then cannot be blamed on the justices nor on the essoinee, but only on the knights
[013] and the demandant. If the judge examines and sends, and the knights sent view
[014] and give a day, then if the essoinee comes later or earlier than he ought, that may
[015] be blamed on him, since he alone is at fault, ³<as where he errs in taking up a day
[016] because he misunderstood his day,> though sometimes he sustains damage though
[017] he is not at fault, because of an error of the knights in fixing the day,⁴<since the four
[018] knights here have record. And that they have record since they are justices, so to
[019] speak, in these circumstances, against whose assertion no testimony to the contrary
[020] is admitted when the demandant holds himself to the default, is proved from the
[021] response of William of Ralegh and Stephen of Segrave to Richard Duket, who sought
[022] their counsel in this matter.> If⁵ in giving a day they say to the essoinee, ‘We give you
[023] a day a year and day from this day of your view,’ that suffices. If they give a precise
[024] day, saying ‘we give you a day [a year and a day] from this day [of your view], so that
[025] you are to appear on such a day at the Tower,’ if the day they give is lawful, both must
[026] be obeyed [and] let him ⁶<But what if the essoinee obeys the knights when they are in
[027] error? He may be aided by the grace and counsel of the court.> come to the Tower on
[028] the day specified.⁷ But if the knights have erred in specifying the day, there is no
[029] need for the essoinee

Notes

1. ‘testentur’

2. Supra i, 414; belongs infra 127, n. 1

3. ‘ut (for ‘vel’) si . . . diem suum,’ from lines 15-16; supra i, 414

4. ‘cum quatuor . . . hoc casu,’ from lines 16-21

5. Om: ‘Ut’

6. Supra i, 414; belongs infra 127, line 4, after ‘nulla’

7. Om: ‘et erit . . . legitimus’