Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 342

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Volume 2, Page 342

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[001] themselves in some dispute and one of them is slain; [if] it does not appear by whom
[002] nor by whose blow it was done all may be called homicides, those who struck,³¹
[003] those who with evil intent held while he was struck,³² ³³and those who came with
[004] the intention of slaying though they struck no blow. Also those who neither slew
[005] nor had any intention of slaying but came to lend counsel and aid to the slayers,
[006] sometimes even though their [the slayers'] violence is repulsed.³⁴ Not only is he
[007] who strikes and slays liable, but he who orders him to strike and slay, ³⁵for since
[008] they are not free of guilt, they ought not to be free of punishment; nor ought he
[009] to be free who, though he could rescue a man from death, failed to do so.³⁶ Homicide
[010] also occurs in war, and we must then ascertain whether the war is just or
[011] unjust. ³⁷If it is unjust he who kills will be liable; if just, as a war in defence of the
[012] patria, he will not, unless he acts with evil intent.³⁸

Of the office of coroners.

[014] [Wherever men are found dead, which may] sometimes be in the houses of a town, or
[015] the streets, sometimes outside the town in fields or woods, [or when a homicide
[016] occurs,] it is the business of the coroners to make diligent inquiry with respect to
[017] such [and if they have been slain, as to the slayer, when he is unknown,]³⁹ and therefore,
[018] ⁴⁰as soon as they have their order from the bailiff of the lord king or from the
[019] responsible men of the district, they ought to go [to those who have been slain or
[020] wounded or drowned or have met untimely deaths, [or] to where there has been housebreaking
[021] [or] where it is reported that treasure⁴¹ has been found,] at once and without
[022] delay to the place where the dead man has been found,⁴² and on their arrival
[023] there to order four, five or six of the neighbouring vills to come before them at once
[024] and by their oath hold an inquest. When they are required [to hold an inquest] on a
[025] slain man, [they must enquire],⁴³

Of inquests: where he was slain.

[027] first of all, where he was slain, in a house or in the fields. [If in a house or] at a wake,⁴⁴
[028] or in a tavern or at a gathering of some sort, they must then enquire who were then
[029] present, and which of them, man or woman, adult or child, were in any way the
[030] cause of that deed, and which of those were guilty as principals and which as
[031] accessories, counsellors or instigators.⁴⁵ A careful inquiry having been made, let as
[032] many as

Notes

32. Infra 389

33-34. Raymund, ii, 1, 5; if no act: supra 334, infra 361, 392, iii, 42

35-36. Raymund, ii, 1, 5; G’terbock, 170

37-38. Ibid.

39. ‘et de occisis, de interfectore, cum quis’; om: ‘ideo bonum ... in hac parte’

40. St. of the Realm, i, 40

41. ‘thesaurum’, all MSS.; infra 344

42. ‘[ad locum] ubi inventus fuerit mortuus,’ from lines 30-31

43. ‘inquirere debent,’ as infra 344

44. ‘luctum,’ as Fleta i, ca. 25

45. Reading: ‘fuerunt in causa aliqua illius facti, et qui illorum’