Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 250

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Volume 2, Page 250

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[001] nor will the payment or aid be reasonable. There is another kind of payment,
[002] not similar to a relief, called a heriot,¹ that is, where a tenant, free or bond, at his
[003] death remembers the lord of whom he holds with his best beast, or, depending upon
[004] custom, with his second best,² a gift made rather of grace than of right and one
[005] which does not concern the heir.³

Of the wardship of heirs.

[007] We have spoken above of instituting heirs of full age and which of them are bound to
[008] homages and reliefs and which to fealty. Now we must discuss those who are minors
[009] and within age, who must of necessity be under the tutelage and care of others since
[010] they are unable to govern themselves.⁴ [Of these some must be in the wardship of
[011] lords, with the lands and tenements that belong to their fee, and some in the wardship
[012] of relatives and near kinsmen, as was said above.⁵ To such minors guardians sometimes
[013] are given by [law by] right of ancient feoffment, curators sometimes by man, [as]
[014] where one enfeoffs an infant under age, since [the feoffor] himself cannot be curator;⁶
[015] nor can he be guardian. Sometimes the chief lord is entitled only to the wardship of
[016] the land that belongs to his fee and not the wardship of the heir or his marriage, if
[017] the heir is to be married, sometimes to the wardship of both.] ⁷There are heirs who
[018] are clearly of full age, others who are clearly within age, and some as to whom there
[019] is doubt. If it is clear that they are minors they shall remain in the wardship of the
[020] lords of a military fee until they have reached full age,⁸ or in the wardship of others,
[021] depending upon the kind of tenement. ⁹If whether they are of full age or not is
[022] doubtful, they shall remain in wardship as long as the doubt remains, until the
[023] question of their age is settled.¹⁰

[There are different ages according to the different kinds of heirs and tenements].

[025] ¹¹If the fee is a military fee, the heir will be of full age when he has completed his
[026] twenty-first year and reached his twenty-second. If he is the son and heir of a
[027] sokeman, when he has completed his fifteenth year. If he is the son of a burgess,
[028] he is taken to be of full age when he knows how properly to count money, measure
[029] cloths and perform other similar paternal business.¹² Thus it is not defined in
[030] terms of time but by sense and maturity. A woman may be of full age [in socage]
[031] whenever she can and knows how to order her house and do the things that belong
[032] to the arrangement and management of a house, provided she understands what

Notes

1. Supra 244

2. Supra 178

3. ‘quia factum est antecessoris,’ Fleta adds: iii, ca. 18

4. Supra 51, infra 256

5. Supra 35, 248

6. Supra 56, 94, 136

7-8. Glanvill, vii, 9: ‘Sunt enim quidam heredes de quibus constat eos esse maiores, alii unde constat eos esse minores, alii vero de quibus dubium est utrum sint maiores an minores ... Si vero constet eos minores, tunc tenetur heredes ipsi esse sub custodia dominorum suorum donec plenam habuerint aetatem, si fuerint heredes de feodo militari’

9-10. Ibid: ‘Si vero dubium fuerit utrum fuerint heredes maiores an minores, tunc procul dubio domini tam heredes quam hereditates in custodia habebunt donec aetas rationabiliter probetur ...’

11-12. ‘post vicesimum et unum annum completum si fuerit heres et filius militis vel per feodum militare tenentis. Si vero heres et filius sokemanni, aetatem habere intellegitur tunc cum quindecim compleverit annos. Si vero fuerit filius burgensis, aetatem habere tunc intellegitur cum discrete sciverit denarios numerare et pannos ulnare et alia negotia paterna similiter exercere.’