Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 176

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Volume 2, Page 176

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[001] the fine which follows from it [ought to injure him].¹ ²Suppose that when the heir
[002] is thus in seisin he demises the manor with the appurtenances to farm for a term
[003] of years, and after the demise and during the term confirms the gift made by his
[004] ancestor to the abbot, in the manner described above; the church falls vacant and
[005] the abbot, the heir and the termor all present. The heir replies to the presenting
[006] abbot that his ancestor's charter is void through non-use. To which the abbot
[007] answers that though it was void at first it is made good by the confirmation and
[008] fine. To which the heir replies that neither the charter nor the confirmation nor the
[009] fine ought to be valid since before any of these he had given the manor with the
[010] advowson for a term. To which the abbot answers that this ought not to injure
[011] him, for though the heir had given the manor with its appurtenances for a term,
[012] nevertheless the property and the free tenement remained to him, because of which
[013] the confirmation ought to be valid. To which the termor replies that the presentation
[014] belongs to him because, before the confirmation, the manor with all the
[015] appurtenances and without reservation was demised to him for a term, and the
[016] subsequent confirmation could take nothing of his right from him. Here the termor
[017] will be successful. And when he presents he continues the possession of the heir in
[018] whose name he presents,³ and so the confirmation is a nullity unless it is ratified by
[019] the heir after the term. But if the church does not fall vacant during the term,
[020] the confirmation made after transfer will always remain in suspense until the term
[021] has ended ⁴and ⁵will then begin to be effective and valid and the presentation will
[022] thenceforth belong to the abbot. All the above must be considered whenever a
[023] tenement to which an advowson is appurtenant is to revert to the owner after a
[024] time and a term (as where a tenement with the appurtenances is granted until
[025] another reaches full age, or until provision is made for him, or if another holds
[026] it for life in some way) that [we may know] whether the confirmation is wholly
[027] invalid or remains in suspense. But not to abandon the first case,⁶ if a gift of some
[028] corporeal thing is made with no expectation of a reversion and livery follows,
[029] thenceforth a confirmation made of some earlier gift which is incomplete, or of the
[030] grant of a right,⁷ seisin of which has been lost by non-use, will be invalid, even though
[031] the thing afterwards reverts to him who confirms, by virtue of another causa,
[032] as by escheat, for thereafter a second confirmation will be necessary; if there is
[033] [no] doubt that it will revert,⁸ the confirmation will even then be invalid if it is
[034] interrupted by a presentation. It will always be necessary that he who confirms or
[035] acknowledges be in possession of

Notes

1. Infra iii, 218

2. New paragraph

3. ‘praesentaverit’

4. Not a new sentence in any MS.

5. Om: ‘cum ecclesia ... non vacaverit’

6. From line 19; supra 175

7. ‘concessionis iuris’, for ‘concessio iuris’, line 29

8. ‘revertetur’