Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 160

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Volume 2, Page 160

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[001] another to give the advowson.¹ [Laymen, however, as is the common custom, because
[002] of their ignorance, give churches, which means nothing more than to present,²
[003] for a layman presents to the vacant church, as constructed of timber and stone,
[004] that his presentee rule it, and the bishop gives it, that is, admits the presentee
[005] to rule and institutes him.] but if he gives the advowson, that is, the right to present,
[006] it will be otherwise.³ If he gives the church to men of religion, that they have it
[007] to their sole use, the church will remain to them in perpetuity, but the right of
[008] advowson is not transferred to them [and] always remains with the patron, and
[009] hence they cannot confer [the church] on a clerk.⁴ But if he gives them the advowson
[010] of some church, they may keep the church to their sole use, by grace and favour
[011] [of the bishop], or present to it and retain the right of advowson and jus patronatus
[012] for themselves. ⁵[Today], however, a gift of that kind, through custom and
[013] use, has another interpretation and meaning, and [thus] if one says, ‘I give such a
[014] church to such men of religion,’ when he ought to make mention of the advowson, the
[015] gift suffices for the transfer of the right of advowson, and because of the ignorance
[016] of laymen is interpreted to mean that the layman by these words gives whatever
[017] right he has in that church, that is, the right of advowson and the church,⁶ as may
[018] be found [in the roll] of Trinity term in the fourth year of king Henry in the county
[019] of Lincoln, [the case] of the church of Wyclif given to the prior of Markeby.⁷

How one ought to use his servitude in common of pasture.

[021] We must see how one must use a right granted him so as to retain possession and
[022] as evidence of his right.⁸ And first of servitudes, as where one is granted the
[023] right of pasturing cattle in another's land. Let him, as soon as possible, drive in
[024] his beasts, one or several; by that he will retain his seisin. [‘One’, I say, because if
[025] [his grant is] for more, as for a thousand, or an indefinite number, it suffices for
[026] retaining seisin if he puts in one,⁹ and so if a right of pasturing over an entire estate
[027] is granted, it suffices for retaining seisin of the whole if he puts [it in one place] with
[028] the intention that it graze over the whole.]¹⁰ If that is not allowed him, so that he
[029] cannot use it at all or can do so only with difficulty, he is entitled, though there has
[030] been no real use, to the assise of novel disseisin, because of his quasi-seisin and
[031] quasi-use [arising] out of the original agreement of the grantor.¹¹ And when he has
[032] so used it in fact,

Notes

1. ‘If the lord gives the church, he gives what is constructed of timber and stone,’ apparently deleted

2. Substituted for ‘though they cannot give them,’ as infra 274

3. Infra 279

4. Om: ‘cum ius ... cum patrono,’ redundant

5. Continues the portion in brackets above

6. Infra 279; cf. Pike in L.Q.R., v, 37-41

7. B.N.B., no. 1418; C.R.R., ix, 107

8. ‘et ad iuris declarandum’; supra 125, 150

9. Supra 136, infra iii, 166

10. Supra 125, 133, 150

11. Supra 159, infra iii, 165, iv, 318