Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 254

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Volume 2, Page 254

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[001] of him hereditarily, absolutely and without condition, and to the warranty of
[002] which he binds himself and his heirs.¹ If one holds a grand serjeanty of the lord
[003] king, the king shall have wardship just as if it were held of him by military service.
[004] It may be called ‘grand,’ according to some, if it is worth a hundred shillings;
[005] if it amounts to that much the king will have the wardship [of the land] of all the
[006] others, even if that is worth a thousand marks. When the fees of others are in
[007] the hand of the lord king for that reason, the other chief lords of such fees may
[008] exact nothing from those lands and tenements, neither in services specified, nor
[009] in aids for marrying a daughter or for making an eldest son a knight, nor even
[010] in suits, as long as the lands are in the wardship of the lord king; indeed the sheriff
[011] will be instructed not to permit distraint for such.² Petty serjeanties are those that
[012] are worth half a mark or five shillings, as where one is bound to find for the lord
[013] king a horse, sack and buckle for service in Wales with the army and the like,³
[014] as [in the roll] of Hilary term in the seventeenth year of king Henry in the county
[015] of Kent, [the case] of Warin de Monchensey and Robert de Hucham.⁴ Also by the
[016] service of riding with lords or ladies, or of holding court, or carrying letters, or the
[017] like.>⁵

Of the heir of a sokeman, in whose wardship he ought to be.

[019] ⁶On the death of his ancestors the heir of a sokeman will not be in the wardship of
[020] his chief lords but in that of his nearer kinsmen, [that is, of those related by right
[021] of blood not by right of succession,⁷ that is, [not] in the wardships of nearer heirs to
[022] whom any right could descend,] [whether they are nearer, near or remote,] ⁸from
[023] whose side the inheritance does not descend:⁹ if it descends from the father's side the
[024] wardship belongs to the mother, since she is the nearer relative because of proximity
[025] of blood; failing her, her father or mother is called, and failing these, her brother or
[026] sister, and failing these, her uncle or aunt. And let the converse be done if the inheritance
[027] descends from the mother's side. It is regularly true that ¹⁰no one shall ever
[028] remain in the wardship of a person who may be suspected of wishing to claim a right
[029] in that inheritance.¹¹ Thus if there are several daughters and heirs and they ought to
[030] hold in socage, no one ought to be in the wardship of the other but let them [all]
[031] be in that of their relatives, in the manner described above. If they ought to hold by
[032] military service, ¹²they all will be in the wardship of the chief lord and none of them
[033] in the wardship of another because of the aforesaid suspicion until they reach full
[034] age. And as each of them comes of age, their lord is bound

Notes

1. Supra 247

2. Ibid.

3. Supra 114

4. B.N.B., no. 743; cf. Maitland's n. 3

5. Supra 113, 231, infra iv, 48

6. Glanvill, vii, 11: ‘Heredes vero sokemannorum mortuis antecessoribus suis in custodia consanguineorum suorum propinquiorum erunt, ita tamen quod si hereditas ipsa ex parte patris descenderit, ad consanguineos ex parte matris descendentes custodia ipsa referatur. Sin autem ex parte matris hereditas ipsa descenderit, tunc ad consanguineos paternos custodia pertinet.’

7. Supra 226

8. Om: ‘et illis competit custodia,’ a connective

9. Infra 263

10-11. Glanvill, vii, 11 (continuing the above): ‘Numquam enim custodia alicuius de iure alicui remanet de quo habeatur suspicio quod possit vel velit aliquod ius in ipsa hereditate clamare.’

12-15. Glanvill, vii, 12; infra v.