Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 237

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Volume 2, Page 237

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[001] revives, except by virtue of a new causa¹ and in the persons of others. And note
[002] that a chief lord may not waive homage and refuse service against the will² of his
[003] tenant, so as not to be bound to warranty and escambium,³ nor conversely may the
[004] tenant, so as to escape the service due his lord, as long as⁴ he holds the tenement
[005] because of which he is bound to service. But he may disavow his lord though he holds
[006] the tenement, though this, as was said above, will be to his damage. He may also
[007] waive the tenement, with or without cause, and homage will thus be dissolved.
[008] He may return his homage and the tenement to his lord because of deadly enmity⁵
[009] [between them], that he may more freely prosecute his appeal against him,⁶ and in
[010] this way homage is dissolved.

Whether a lord may attorn the homage and service of his tenant against the tenant's will.

[012] We must see whether a lord may attorn the homage and service of his tenant to
[013] another against that tenant's will. It is evident that he may not, [especially not the
[014] homage, because this contradiction would follow, that he could subject him to his
[015] chief enemy,⁷ and he would thus be bound to swear an oath of fealty to him who
[016] intended to harm him. A slight enmity is no obstacle.] ⁸[some cases being excepted
[017] in which a chief lord may attorn the homage and service of his free man to another
[018] against his tenant's will, whether he wishes it or not, ⁹as where he gives land in
[019] maritagium with his daughter with the homage and service of some free man [or]
[020] gives it for ransoming his body. [There are others] in which he will be attorned against
[021] his will unless he can show good reason why he ought not to be,¹⁰ as¹¹ by a fine
[022] made in the king's court, where he whose homage and service are granted to another
[023] must be summoned to acknowledge his homage and service, and where he may show
[024] the reason why he ought not to do homage; if he cannot, he will be attorned whether
[025] he wishes to be or not.] ¹²[because] if he could attorn the homage to one who has
[026] no property whence he can¹³ warrant, defend and provide escambium, by such means
[027] any chief lord could free himself at his pleasure from being bound to warrant his
[028] feoffee and to provide an escambium of one hundred librates of land for one penny
[029] of service,¹⁴ [he

Notes

1. Supra 234, 235

2. ‘voluntatem’

3. Supra 83, 234; infra iv, 196

4. ‘quamdiu’

5. ‘inimicitiae capitales’: D. 3.3.8.3; 4.8.15; 17.1.23; 34.9.9; Drogheda, 388; supra 231

6. Infra 397

7. Infra 225

8. Om: ‘in’

9-10. ‘ut si quis terram ... quare non debeat,’ from lines 25-8

11. ‘sicut’

12. Om: ‘Est et . . . velit’; reading: ‘quia si posset homagium’

13. ‘possit’

14. Supra 234