Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 385

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Bracton Online -- English

Volume 2, Page 385

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[001] he has made his defence or been convicted of the crime alleged against him, for he
[002] forfeits nothing until he is convicted.¹ If anyone has acted to the contrary let this
[003] writ be issued to the sheriff:

That they may be sustained out of their goods.

[005] ²‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. Know that it was provided in our court before
[006] us that no man arrested for homicide, or for any other felony for which he ought to
[007] be imprisoned, shall be disseised of his lands, tenements or chattels until he has
[008] been convicted of the felony of which he was charged. But as soon as he has been
[009] arrested let the chattels of the arrested man be appraised and listed by the view of
[010] the keepers of the pleas of our crown, and by your view or that of your bailiffs
[011] and of law-abiding men, and safely kept by the bailiffs of the arrested man, who are
[012] to find good security for answering for them before our justices when they are
[013] demanded from them, saving his reasonable estovers to the man under arrest as
[014] long as he is in prison and to his family their necessaries. If the arrested man is
[015] convicted before the justices of the felony of which he was charged, let all the rest
[016] of his chattels over and above the said estovers then remain to us according to the
[017] custom of our realm, together with our term of a year and a day with respect to
[018] that land.³ And if he can make his defence before our justices aforesaid and clear
[019] himself of the felony alleged against him, let his chattels then remain in his
[020] possession undisturbed. Therefore we order you to see that it is so done and observed
[021] in your county in future. And we firmly enjoin you for the future not to lay hands
[022] in any other way for that cause⁴ upon the lands and chattels of anyone arrested in
[023] the manner aforesaid, lest we hear further complaint thereof. Witness etc.’ It will
[024] be otherwise as to those who are fugitives, as was said above.⁵

How an arrested man ought to be brought before the justices.

[026] When the person thus arrested is to be brought before the justices he ought not to
[027] be brought with his hands tied (though sometimes in leg-irons because of the danger
[028] of escape) lest he may seem constrained to submit to any form of trial. When he
[029] is brought and accused of the crime alleged against him, if he confesses it at once,
[030] the judgment will be evident enough.

When there is one [who] appeals him.

[032] If he enters a denial and denies the crime,⁶ and there is someone who appeals him
[033] by words lawfully constituting an appeal, he either⁷ denies everything charged
[034] against him absolutely, just as it is charged against him, raising no exception
[035] against the appellor, [or he does not. If he denies everything absolutely]

He has the power of choosing whether to place himself on a jury or defend himself by his body.

[037] he will have the choice of putting himself on the country, as to whether or not he is
[038] guilty

Notes

1. Supra 346, 367

2. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1231-34, 587-8: ordinance of 20 Aug. 1234; Richardson in L.Q.R., liv, 389; St. of the Realm, i, 230

3. Supra 364-5

4. ‘ne pro dicta occasione decetero alio modo manum apponas,’ as roll

5. Supra 343, 354, 362

6. Om: ‘praecise’

7. ‘aut: OA, LA, MC, OC, MG; ‘autem’: CE, V