Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 189

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Volume 2, Page 189

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[001] they stem from one stock,¹ [and] though they are equals with respect to possessory
[002] right ²the possession of the younger son will be³ void, since it is interrupted by the
[003] older's diligent impetration and diligent prosecution.]⁴ ⁵If he has two sons and one
[004] daughter, the males will be near heirs, the daughter a remote heir. If he has two sons
[005] and no daughter but grandsons by his sons, the sons will be near heirs, the grandsons
[006] remote. [Heirs may be called more remote, [as the heirs] of remote heirs, as
[007] greatgrandsons, sons of greatgrandsons, their sons and their sons' sons, and so on
[008] down the right line ad infinitum.]⁶ If sons, the daughter and grandchildren fail,
[009] the near heir will then be the brother or⁷ sister of the person in seisin of the inheritance.
[010] If he has sons but no daughter or grandchildren, the uncle or aunt in the
[011] transverse line will be a remote heir, and all stemming from them in the same
[012] transverse line more remote heirs. If sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters,
[013] uncle and aunt all fail, the great-uncle or great-aunt will then be a near
[014] heir and others higher up remote and more remote. ⁸The nearer, however, is he to
[015] whom the proprietary right descends immediately upon the death of the ancestor,⁹
[016] because of age, as where one had two sons the proprietary right always descends to
[017] the older, since he came forth first in the nature of things; the other will remain a
[018] near heir to him, or a nearer,¹⁰ according as the older has children or not. If the
[019] older dies in his father's lifetime without an heir of his body, his younger brother will
[020] succeed to his place and begin to be the nearer heir of their common father and the
[021] other younger sons near heirs, and so ad infinitum.¹¹ If the older brother dies in his
[022] father's lifetime leaving an heir of his body, such grandson or granddaughter begins
[023] to be in the potestas of the grandfather and his nearer heir,¹² because of the proprietary
[024] right which descends [to him] though he is in a more remote degree of
[025] relationship, and the uncle or aunt [of the child] a near, but not a nearer heir,
[026] though they are in a nearer degree. Hence if the uncle or aunt, being out of seisin,
[027] claims against the grandson or granddaughter in seisin, the exception of proprietary
[028] right will bar them,¹³ that they cannot be nearer heirs. Similarly if they sue
[029] against strangers, an exception [based upon] proprietary right will bar them,
[030] that their nephew or niece [or another] has¹⁴ the greater right. If the uncle or
[031] aunt enters into seisin before the nephew or niece, let the procedure then be in all
[032] respects that

Notes

1. Infra iii, 295, 320

2. Om: ‘quamvis’

3. ‘erit’

4. Om: ‘Cum sit ... autem heres remotus’

5. ‘Si’

6. Infra 196, iii, 279

7. ‘vel’

8. Om: ‘Item sunt ... propinquiores’

9. Infra 194, iii, 280

10. Reading: ‘et alius remanebit ei propinquus, vel propinquior’

11. Infra iii, 279-80, iv, 174

12. Infra iv, 174; Glanvill, vii, 3

13. Infra iii, 283-5

14. ‘habuerit’