Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 366

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Volume 2, Page 366

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[001] of B., whose heir he is, and which ought to revert to him as his escheat because of
[002] the aforesaid felony.’ Or ‘in which [A.] has no entry save through us who granted
[003] him our term, that is, the year and day, and which ought to be [B.'s] escheat because
[004] of the felony which such a one committed and of which he was convicted in our
[005] court before our justices etc.’;

Another writ on the same subject.

[007] or ‘and in which he has no entry save through such a one to whom we committed
[008] it to hold for a year and a day after such a one, accused of the death of such a one,
[009] took to flight and was outlawed (or ‘was arrested and hanged’) and who held that
[010] land of such a one, the father (or ‘grandfather’) of such a one [B], whose heir he is
[011] and who then was under age and to whom that land ought to revert after the year
[012] and day as his escheat. And unless he does so etc., summon etc.’ The form of this
[013] writ may be found [in the roll] of Michaelmas term in the fifteenth year of king
[014] Henry in the county of Kent, [the case] of William Musard.¹ ²<And note that the
[015] king will never have the year and day of any land which cannot be an escheat,³
[016] as where the felon held only for a term or for life or something that could not
[017] descend to heirs.> And note that in every writ in which an escheat is claimed because
[018] of the felony of another it is essential that it be expressly stated ‘and of which he
[019] was convicted,’ for the land will never revert to the chief lord unless the felon has
[020] been convicted by one of the modes⁴ of conviction, as where he has been hanged,
[021] or outlawed, or has confessed the felony and abjured the realm and the like. If
[022] he dies before conviction, no matter how, [unless, conscious of his crime and fearful
[023] of being hanged or of suffering some other punishment, he has killed himself; his
[024] inheritance will then be the escheat of his lords.⁵ It ought to be otherwise if he kills
[025] himself through madness or unwillingness to endure suffering,⁶ or dies by misadventure.]⁷
[026] the inheritance will descend to his heirs,⁸ ⁹because he who is guilty of
[027] the crime having died, punishment is extinguished.¹⁰

Where one has made a gift, before conviction or afterwards.

[029] And so if he makes a gift, before the felony convicted or after, it is good if the felony
[030] is not convicted, as above,¹¹ but it will be revoked if he is convicted, [because]
[031] conviction relates back to the time the felony was perpetrated.¹² And just as a gift
[032] made after a felony committed will not be valid, so a begetting after a felony will be
[033] valueless with respect to succession, to both the paternal and maternal inheritance,
[034] since he was begotten of the seed and blood of a felon. But if the felon has begotten
[035] before the felony, he who is thus begotten will succeed to

Notes

1. B.N.B. nos. 462, 597; C.R.R., xiv, nos. 746, 1747

2. Supra i, 387, from above; repeated infra 369, n. 3

3. Supra 101, infra 369

4. ‘genere,’ all MSS.

5. Infra 423

6. ‘impatientia,’ all MSS.

7. D. 48.21.3.4; infra 424

8. ‘hereditas ... suos,’ from line 24; supra 346, 352, infra 367, 373

9-10. From infra 367, nn. 3-4

11. Supra 100, 363; the portion infra 367, nn. 5-8, belongs here

12. Supra 363, infra iii, 45