Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 107

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Volume 2, Page 107

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[001] that is, for a term, what he has he may grant to another, saving to the termor his
[002] term.>¹ ²<If one [who] has both rights, property and possession, grants both to another,
[003] attaching this modus to his gift, that after a time the possession revert to him to
[004] be held for life, he to have only the free tenement, the property remaining with the
[005] donee, let the donor not enter at once, on that same day or the next,³ no matter for
[006] what purpose, as for lodging there as a guest, or subsequently (that is, shortly thereafter)
[007] for that of using⁴ as before, for by such action it is presumed that he never had
[008] the intention of withdrawing from possession,⁵ since both must concur in a gift, that
[009] is, that the donor relinquish possession animo as well as corpore.⁶ If he enters after a
[010] long time, by virtue of the agreement, and is ejected [at once], contrary to the agreement,
[011] he will have⁷ the assise for recovering [possession], based on the agreement.⁸ If
[012] the other, the donee, brings the assise against him, he will have an exception founded
[013] on the agreement. If he cannot enter he will have an action on the agreement. And so
[014] if [he enters] after a time by force of an acknowledgment made in a court of the lord
[015] king which bears record,⁹ provided that the acknowledgment or admission is true, for
[016] an admission made in court must be true and consonant with the facts; [then] what
[017] is done will be valid. [But] if the donor avows that the donee was in seisin at the time
[018] the acknowledgment was made though he was not, the admission will not be valid,¹⁰
[019] nor ought what follows to have any effect. ¹¹In all the cases above, whenever the
[020] donor enters, it is important [to see] whether he has changed his status completely,
[021] or in part, or not at all, for if he has changed it completely, where what¹² he
[022] formerly used as lord he now uses as servant or paid assistant, that will not prejudice
[023] the donee, for [if] the donor changes his status completely it would be most
[024] inhuman if a son or friend should not receive him in his house, at least as a guest,
[025] when he does not bear himself as before, or as lord. But if he has [not] changed his
[026] status, completely or in part, [or] does not enter under an agreement or acknowledgment
[027] [and] bears himself as lord,¹³ it will be another matter. ¹⁴But if he [enters] after
[028] a very long time, that is ten years or more, a time which brings forgetfulness with
[029] it,¹⁵ how he then uses, as lord or otherwise, will not prejudice the donee because of
[030] the time that has elapsed.>¹⁶

If a gift is made for homage and service or for service alone.

[032] ¹⁷We have said above¹⁸ that a gift is made to someone either for a past causa,
[033] because he has long served, or a present, because he is serving well, or for a future,
[034] because he will serve well, [the recompense [for such gift] may be called a gift of the
[035] future service,¹⁹ and just as the thing given must be certain, so the services given
[036] for it must be certain,]²⁰ as where a gift is made²¹ for both homage and service,²²

Notes

1. Supra 57, 92, infra 138, iii, 162, iv, 22

2. The addicio falls into two parts

3. Infra 132, 151, 154

4. ‘utendi’

5. Infra 132, 151, iii, 270

6. Infra 122, 130, 140

7. ‘habebit’

8. Infra 132, 151

9. Infra 151

10. Infra 151, iii, 290

11. ‘Si autem ... propter tempus,’ transposed infra nn. 14-16; the paragraphs are in the wrong order

12. ‘ubi quod’

13. Reading: ‘Si autem [non] ex toto vel in parte [vel] ingressus [fuerit] non ex conventione vel recognitione [et] se gerat’; infra 131, 132, 151, iii, 270, 282, 290

14-16. Supra n. 11

15. Infra 140

17. Supra i, 125-6 (full collation)

18. Supra 72

19. Reading: ‘[tali donationi] remuneratio donatio dici poterit servitii futuri’

20. ‘Et sicut ... pro re data,’ from last lines; supra 62, 66

21. ‘ut si fiat donatio,’ as infra 110

22. The portion infra 110 n. 18 to the end of the addicio on 111 belongs here; the rubric is in accord