Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 174

Harvard Law School Library

Bracton Online -- English

Volume 4, Page 174

Next

Go to Volume: Page:

[001] Hence if a narratio is made of the descent, mention must be made of the degree left
[002] vacant by the death of the son [for this reason], lest there be a leap, a degree being
[003] omitted. Let it be put thus ‘And of which such an ancestor was seised etc. and from
[004] such an ancestor the right ought to descend to such a one as son and heir, and from
[005] such a one to him who claims as grandson or granddaughter and heir,’ for if it were
[006] otherwise and he who died in the lifetime of the father had committed felony, if he
[007] were not named in the descent the inheritance and the right of succession could
[008] descend directly from the grandfather to grandsons or granddaughters, despite the
[009] felony of their father, which would be incompatible with reason.¹ But when the
[010] eldest dies in the lifetime of the father, leaving no heir of his body but survived by
[011] brothers, mention need not be made in the count of the descent of the eldest brother
[012] who died in the lifetime of the father, though the right ought to descend to him, not
[013] only because the surviving brothers are equally near heirs [and in the same] degree
[014] with regard to seisin as he who is dead,² but also because the eldest of those who
[015] survive begins immediately on the death of his deceased brother to stand in his
[016] place and to be the nearer heir to the common father. Hence though the deceased
[017] eldest brother has committed felony, that does not prejudice the surviving brothers,
[018] since they were not his heirs as long as the father was alive, nor can they be his heirs
[019] since he ceased to exist during the life of the common father and before any right had
[020] descended to him.³ [But in truth he forfeits whatever he has at the time of the felony
[021] perpetrated, if he is convicted of the felony, and whatever could fall to him, for his
[022] heirs, present and future, and for all who could be his heirs.]⁴ But he forfeits an
[023] acquisition, if he has such, for the heirs of his body and also for his brothers or
[024] more remote heirs. ⁵In the count of the descent from the seisin of some ancestor in
[025] the time of one king to that of another in the time of another, mention ought to be
[026] made of the time of which king.⁶ ⁷Just as the descent may be counted from the seisin
[027] of the ancestor, from the great-great-great-greatgrandfather to the great-great-great-greatgrandson
[028] so may it be conversely from the great-great-great-greatgrandson
[029] and his seisin to the uncle or aunt, and beyond, by ascending, and to their
[030] nearer heirs by descending ad infinitum. How and to

Notes

1. Supra ii, 367, iii, 306

2. Cf. supra ii, 188

3. Supra ii, 197, 367, 377

4. Ibid.; infra 310

5. New paragraph

6. Supra 170, infra 175

7. New sentence