Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 195

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Volume 2, Page 195

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[001] felony, the proprietary right reverts in some way to the donor, the chief lord, as an
[002] escheat,¹ seisin will always follow him,² since he stands in the place of the heir though
[003] he is not heir, and the inheritance will remain with him as an escheat, homage³ being
[004] extinguished, since there is no heir who claims or may claim.⁴ Though he is not heir,
[005] he sometimes stands in the place of an heir because the land reverts to him in service,⁵
[006] ⁶though [if] another is in seisin through the gift of one who could not make a
[007] permanent gift warranty is altogether extinguished,⁷ and⁸ if he is vouched to
[008] warranty he is not obliged to warrant, since it is he who has the right to claim
[009] that land in demesne, though⁹ if he has taken homage and service or confirmed such
[010] gift, as explained above,¹⁰ he will then be obliged to do so. ¹¹<And note that some
[011] heirs are true heirs and some quasi-heirs, [that is, stand] in the place of heirs [or]
[012] are taken as heirs. True heirs [come in] by reason of succession; quasi-heirs either
[013] stand in the place of heirs [‘In place of heirs,’ as chief lords to whom an inheritance
[014] reverts as an escheat, because of failure or delict: failure of heirs, since heirs fail in
[015] the line of descent; because of delict, because of felony, where though heirs or
[016] kinsmen exist the descent is arrested.]¹² or are taken as heirs by the modus of the
[017] gift, as assigns. Also by¹³ the modus of the gift, as where the donor says ‘I give to
[018] such a one and the heirs born of his body and if he has no such heirs, or if he has such
[019] and they fail, I then give to such a one and the heirs of his body,’ and so on as to others
[020] ad infinitum. Such do not succeed ex causa successionis but will be heirs by the modus
[021] of the gift.>¹⁴

Degrees of kinship and succession.

[023] We have dealt with the kinds of heirs and the differences between them, those who
[024] are called to the succession and those who are preferred to others in the succession
[025] as nearer heirs. But since an inheritance and the right of succession descends by
[026] degrees, we must consider the degrees of succession and kinship, and how and
[027] through what persons the right descends to him who claims the seisin of some
[028] ancestor in proprietary right. It is clear that some parentelae of kinsmen are above,
[029] some below, and some from the side or collateral.¹⁵ Kinsmen who stand above in
[030] the arbor consanguinitatis may be called ancestors and parents, [ancestors], because
[031] they are dead and antecede their heirs, that is, go before, and whose heirs come after,
[032] that is to say, succeed, for ‘cedere’ has the meaning ‘to depart’ and

Notes

1. ‘licet heres ... in dominico,’ infra n. 5

2. Infra 367

3. Om: ‘et servitium,’ infra n. 5

4. Supra 82

5. ‘Licet heres ... loco heredis propter terram ... revertitur in servitio’

6. Om: ‘Cum autem ... fuerit,’ a connective

7. Supra 82, 100

8. ‘et’ for ‘ut’

9. ‘quamvis’

10. Supra 66, 173

11. Supra i, 382

12. ‘loco heredum ... aut parentes,’ from lines 15-19

13. ‘per’

14. Infra 200-1, iii, 272, iv, 179

15. Inst. 3.6. pr.: ‘aliam supra numerari, aliam infra, aliam ex transverso, quae etiam a latere dicitur. Superior cognatio est parentium, inferior liberorum, ex transverso fratrum, sororumve eorumque ...’; D.38.10.1. pr.: ‘Gradus cognationis alii superioris ordinis sunt, alii inferioris, alii ex transverso sive a latere. Superioris ordinis sunt parentes ...’