Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 351

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Volume 2, Page 351

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[001] one will not answer for his mainpast for any offence unless the malefactor has
[002] returned after the felony or he has harboured him after the offence, as [in the roll]
[003] of the eyre of Martin of Pateshull in the county of Hereford in the fifth year of
[004] king Henry.>¹ [According to the laws of king Edward,² ³archbishops, bishops,
[005] earls and barons, and all who have soke and sake, toll and team, and similar
[006] liberties ought to have their knights and their household servants, as stewards,
[007] butlers, chamberlains, cooks and bakers, within their frankpledge, and these in
[008] turn their own squires and others serving them, so that if they have become liable
[009] to anyone their lords may produce them for trial, or if they do not, pay the forfeiture
[010] for them.]⁴ and for all others who are of his mainpast, for⁵ every man, whether
[011] free or bond, is or ought to be either in frankpledge or in mainpast, unless he is one
[012] who wanders from place to place, remaining no longer in one than in another, or
[013] has what suffices for frankpledge, a dignity or a religious order, a free tenement, or
[014] in a city, an immovable.

At the view of frankpledge.

[016] [Every [male] who has reached the age of twelve years must take an oath at the
[017] view of frankpledge that he does not intend to be a thief nor a party to thieving.⁶
[018] All who hold land and house, who are called ‘householders,’ ought to be in frankpledge,
[019] and also those who serve them, who are called ‘followers.’⁷ No one ought
[020] to dismiss his servant before he is cleared of every accusation, those with which he
[021] has previously been charged.]⁸ A man belongs to the mainpast and household of
[022] him from whom he has food and clothing, or food only with wages, as in the case of
[023] hired household servants. He may also be called a member of another's household,
[024] according to ancient custom, who has lodged with another for three nights, because
[025] on the first night he can be described as ‘stranger,’ on the second as ‘guest’ and on
[026] the third as ‘one of the household.’⁹ And in conclusion note that one, as a ‘borg-holder,’¹⁰
[027] may receive another in frankpledge when he wishes and at his pleasure,
[028] but cannot extrude him from frankpledge when he pleases; nor, it is submitted, is
[029] the converse true, for one who has put himself in the frankpledge of another,

Notes

1. Not in B.N.B.; no roll extant

2. ‘secundum leges Edwardi regis,’ from lines 14-15

3-4. Leges Edw. Confess., cc. 21, 21.1, 23b: Liebermann, i, 647, 648

5. ‘et pro omnibus aliis qui sunt de suo manupastu, quia’; om: ‘sic erit observandum,’ a connective

6. Inst. Cnuti, 21: Liebermann, i. 325: ‘precipimus ut omnis homo ultra etatem duodecim annorum faciat sacramentum quod nec latro vult esse nec latroni consentire.’

7. Ibid., 20a: Liebermann, i, 323: ‘Hoc quoque dicimus et de iis qui domum et terram habent et de iis qui non, sed serviunt aliis, quos Angli vocant husfaest et fogaeres’

8. Ibid., 28.1: Liebermann, i, 331: ‘Nullus repellat a se servientem suum antequam sit purgatus de omni calumnia unde fuit prius calumniatus.’

9. Leg. Edw. Confess., 23, 23.1: Liebermann, i, 648; Gloucester Crown Pleas, xxxi, and add to n. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1231-34, 309 (1233) which also allows but one night's hospitality without responsibility; cf. Richardson in Traditio, vi, 78

10. Morris, Frankpledge, 93, 99, 103