Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 188

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Volume 2, Page 188

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[001] descending ad infinitum, and then, those in the right line failing, through the
[002] transverse line descending ad infinitum, and finally, when those in the transverse
[003] line descending fail, they are called who are in a transverse line ascending, [only
[004] in that line, because through the right line ascending, through which the right
[005] descends because of the death of ancestors, the right never re-ascends,]¹ [for] though
[006] all ad infinitum, descending or ascending, are right and lawful heirs,² not all are called
[007] to the succession at the same time, because the nearer excludes the near, the near the
[008] remote and the remote the more remote, [and] all of them failing, whether because of
[009] the failure of heirs or felony, the right reverts of necessity to the feoffor, that is, to the
[010] chief lord, since it may find no other way,³ and homage disappears, as will be explained
[011] more fully below [in the portion on] escheats.⁴ Some heirs are under the
[012] potestas of parents and within age, some are sui juris and of full age, as those who
[013] are emancipated or forisfamiliated during the lives of their parents.⁵ After their
[014] parents' death some are of full age and sui juris, some are within age and under the
[015] tutelage or wardship of the chief lords, some in the care of their nearer relations,⁶
[016] as will be explained below.⁷

The nature of heirs, who are near and who nearer, and their seisin.

[018] Some heirs are near and nearer, some remote and more remote⁸. If one has two sons
[019] both are near heirs, the younger as well as the older. [With respect to the seisin of
[020] their parents they are equals in possessory right, provided the younger son, through
[021] the negligence or acquiescence of the older, has been in seisin for so long a time that he
[022] cannot be ejected without judgment and without writ, for after that they are equal in
[023] right and an equal cannot eject an equal in possessory right. Recourse must henceforth
[024] be had to proprietary right, as explained below [in the portion on] the assise of
[025] mortdancestor.⁹ If after his ancestor's death the younger son puts himself in seisin
[026] before his older brother and is at once ejected, he will not recover by the assise of
[027] novel disseisin, because he cannot have a free tenement, except through the lapse of
[028] time and peaceful possession or seisin, because of the proprietary right which lies
[029] with the older.¹⁰ If he cannot be ejected at once, if the older, so as to interrupt his
[030] possession, immediately impetrates by assise of mortdancestor and diligently
[031] prosecutes, though the assise does not proceed between them as between others
[032] because

Notes

1. Supra 184, infra iv, 174, 175

2. Supra 187

3. Supra 81, infra 195, 367

4. Infra 235

5. Supra 35

6. Infra 254

7. Infra 250

8. Supra 187, n. 9; om: ‘De eo autem ... sciendum quod

9. Infra iii, 320

10. Infra iii, 320, 321