Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 362

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Volume 2, Page 362

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[001] and thus he may be deprived of all his goods and of his life, unless the king spares
[002] him of his grace. [I say ‘wittingly,’ because [an outlaw] may be known and
[003] recognized or unknown and unrecognized; thus he who harbours a known and
[004] recognized outlaw, who is called the ‘outlaw's friend,’¹ is to be punished with a
[005] like punishment,

The ‘outlaw's friend’ who knowingly harbours an outlaw.

[007] but not if the outlaw is unknown and unrecognized.] And to this effect is C.9.39.1,
[008] where it is said, let those who, by concealing or harbouring him or her, have
[009] associated themselves with those guilty of crime anticipate an equal punishment.²
[010] And also, ³whoever wittingly harbours thieves, (a person called a harbourer of
[011] wicked men) and fails to give them up to justice shall suffer corporal punishment⁴
[012] and the loss of their property. An outlaw also forfeits everything connected with
[013] the peace, for from the time he is outlawed he bears the wolf's head,⁵ so that he
[014] may be slain by anyone with impunity, especially if he resists or takes to flight so
[015] that his arrest is difficult,⁶

If he does not flee or defend himself.

[017] [If he does not flee or resist arrest his life and death will henceforth be in the
[018] king's hand,⁷ and he who slays a man so arrested will answer for him as he would for
[019] another, [This is true unless there is a custom to the contrary, as in the counties
[020] of Hereford and Gloucester near the Welsh marches.] but his deed is sometimes
[021] excused, for good reason.] as D. 48.8.3.6, where it is said that it is lawful to slay
[022] fugitives wherever they are found.⁸

Flight alone involves.

[024] Flight alone involves only the loss of goods, when those summoned before the
[025] justices appear before outlawry.⁹ ¹⁰To this effect are D.48.17.5 and C.9.40.2,¹¹
[026] where it is said that though one has returned after flight and proved his innocence
[027] his goods will remain in the treasury nonetheless.¹²

He [forfeits] the things pertaining to law.

[029] He also forfeits the things pertaining to law, for if, greatly daring, he returns after
[030] outlawry, without the king's grace, he will perish without law and judicial enquiry.
[031] ¹³<Nor may he appeal others because he has lost all law.> For he bears his judgment
[032] with him on his own head and in consequence will have no defence when

Notes

1. Inst. Cnuti, 13.2: Liebermann, i, 319, n. 2: ‘quod Angli dicunt cuth utlage’

2. C. 9.39.1. pr.: ‘Eos qui se cum alieni criminis reos occultando eum eamve sociarunt par ipsos et reos poena expectet.’

3-4. C. 9.39.1.1: ‘Et latrones quisquis sciens susceperit vel offerre iudiciis supersederit, supplicio corporali aut dispendio facultatem pro qualitate personae et iudicis aestimatione plectatur.’

5. Leg. Edw. Confess., 6.2a: Liebermann, i, 631: ‘Lupinum enim gerit caput a die utlagationis sue’; supra 354

6. Supra 354, infra 378

7. Supra 354, infra 378

8. ‘ad legem Corneliam,’ not ‘Iuliam’: ‘Transfugas licet, ubicumque inventi fuerint, quasi hostes interficere.’ Om: ‘Et quod tales ... et impune,’ a connective

9. Supra 352, 354, 355, 358, infra 363, 374

11. Both cited by Tancred at 136

10-12. Belongs infra 363 at n. 15, where I have repeated it. ‘Sola tamen ... utlagationem,’ redactor's introductory phrase

12. C. 9.40.2: ‘... sed et si argumentis evidentibus et probatione dilucida innocentiam suam purgare suffecerit, nihilo minus facultates eius penes fiscum remaneant.’

13. Supra i, 387; belongs infra 363