Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 124

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Volume 2, Page 124

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[001] at the will of the grantor; if uncertain, then let him proceed as in the case of the
[002] precarium mentioned above.¹

Of liveries.

[004] A gift is not valid unless livery follows, for the thing given is transferred neither
[005] by homage nor the drawing of charters and instruments, even though they be
[006] read aloud in public, [nor by feigned livery, where [the donor] withdraws corpore
[007] but retains possession animo, intending that the thing given remain with him
[008] rather than pass to the donee, [so] doing one thing while pretending to do another,]²
[009] but only when the donor has given full seisin to the donee, [by his own hand, if
[010] he is present, or if absent, by a procurator and letters, provided the charter of
[011] gift and the letters of procuration are read³ in public before neighbours specially
[012] called together for the purpose,] and (if he is present at the livery) withdrawn from
[013] possession corpore and animo,⁴ with no expectation or intention of returning [as
[014] lord,] and when the donee stands forth in vacant possession corpore and animo with
[015] the intention of retaining possession, so that⁵ one ceases and the other begins to
[016] possess, for the donor never ceases to possess until the donee is fully in seisin,⁶
[017] nor will seisin lie vacant during the interim.⁷

What livery is.

[019] We must first see what livery is. It is the transfer of a corporeal thing, one's own
[020] or another's, from one person to a second; a voluntary transference from one's own
[021] hand or another's, as that of a procurator, provided the transfer has his lord's
[022] consent, into that of [the donee]. In one sense, livery is nothing other than an
[023] induction into possession. ⁸Of ‘a corporeal’ thing, it is said, because an incorporeal
[024] thing does not admit of livery, as the right itself which inheres in a thing or a body,
[025] because [rights] cannot be possessed, only quasi-possessed. They therefore do not
[026] admit of livery, only of quasi-livery, nor are they acquired or retained except by
[027] acquiescence and use.⁹ ‘Of one's own property or another's,’ it is said, because it
[028] makes [no] difference who makes livery.

Who may make livery.

[030] It is clear that everyone [may do so], whether he is owner or non-owner.¹⁰ If it is
[031] made by the true owner, however, the donee begins at once and without delay to
[032] have a free tenement, because of the conjunction of right and seisin and the mutual
[033] consent of both parties,¹¹ [and it suffices that he once consented either at the time of
[034] the livery or after it]¹² and ¹³because things which are made ours by livery

Notes

1. Supra 123, infra 158, iii, 163, 186

2. Infra 130-34

3. ‘legantur’

4. Infra 125

5. ‘ita quod’

6. Infra 133, 155

7. Infra 130, 136

8-9. Azo, Summa Cod. 7.32, no. 1: supra 121

10. Reading: ‘quia [non] refert qui traditionem fecerit. Quis traditionem facere possit. Et sciendum quod omnis sive sit ... dominus. Si autem ...’

11. Supra 94, infra 134, iii, 276

12. D. 43.3.1.14; infra 154

13-14. D. 41.1.9.3-4; Inst. 2.1.42; Woodbine in Yale L. Jour., xxxi, 841