Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 118

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Volume 3, Page 118

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[001] who has the hundred has the rent until the hundred is recovered from him, and sic de
[002] similibus.

An exception lies against a plaintiff by reason of the person of the tenant.

[004] An exception also lies for the tenant against the plaintiff by reason of his own person,
[005] as where he says that he committed no disseisin, if any has been committed, but that it
[006] was done by another, his ancestor or predecessor now dead; that he is using no seisin
[007] other than that which they secured, and that since the injuria is personal it does not
[008] extend to heirs, nor since it is personal, to successors, for pain will fall upon those who
[009] cause it. Therefore he must proceed by another action, by writ of entry. If he says
[010] that not he but another committed the disseisin, though he has the thing seized, we
[011] must see whether he holds a tainted thing, that is, [whether he acquired it] immediately
[012] after the disseisin, with the consent of the first and principal disseisor, as by
[013] some justa causa of acquisition, [whether it has passed directly to one or to several
[014] [successively], from hand to hand,]¹ or against the will of the first disseisor by disseisin
[015] or intrusion.² If so, he will not answer without the first and principal disseisor, because
[016] he did not commit the disseisin by himself but with the other, [as may be seen
[017] where the king has committed a disseisin and has then immediately transferred the
[018] thing to another; each is a principal disseisor, the king a first and principal because of
[019] his deed, and the other also a principal because of his immediate entry, and though he
[020] is a principal he will not answer without the king, because he committed the disseisin
[021] with him,]³ nor, conversely, will the first and principal answer without the secondary,
[022] because without him he cannot restore. If the thing has passed to others long after
[023] the disseisin, whether to one or to several successively, such persons are not principal
[024] disseisors, though they are wrongful detainers of a tainted thing, as above more fully
[025] [in the portion] on transfers.⁴

Who ought to be called a principal disseisor and who a secondary; and that one sometimes commits a disseisin in his own name, sometimes in another's as a procurator, villein or household.⁵

[027] To make matters clearer, we must see, by means of an example, who is a first and
[028] principal and who a principal but secondary disseisor, because he has seisin of the
[029] thing seized after the disseisin. It is clear that there are first and principal disseisors
[030] and secondary disseisors. Also first and principal disseisors and secondary wrongful
[031] detainers of the thing seized after the disseisin, one or several, [who] are not disseisors.⁶
[032] They are first and principal disseisors, alone and without the others, before they have
[033] transferred the thing taken to another; when it has been transferred, with their consent
[034] or against their will, the others

Notes

1. Supra 47

2. Supra 48, infra 119, 120

3. Supra 43

4. Supra 44

5. ‘quod facit quis . . . familia,’ from lines 30-32

6. Supra 44

An exception lies against a plaintiff by reason of the person of the tenant.

Who ought to be called a principal disseisor and who a secondary; and that one sometimes commits a disseisin in his own name, sometimes in another's as a procurator, villein or household.5

Notes

Who ought to be called a principal disseisor and who a secondary; and that one sometimes commits a disseisin in his own name, sometimes in another's as a procurator, villein or household.⁵