Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 26

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Volume 3, Page 26

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[001] or assise is threefold.¹ ²<And its punishment multifold, as below [in the portion on]
[002] the restoration of damages.>³ It is personal because it pursues him who committed
[003] the disseisin, because of the act, because he did it; it also pursues him for a penalty,
[004] because of the injuria; it also pursues the thing, with respect to restitution, and in
[005] this respect is recuperatory. It sometimes pursues one person as to all of these, sometimes
[006] two or several, according as the two or several are [or are not] principal disseisors,
[007] [that is], according as the thing has come to them by the disseisin itself or after
[008] it, by transfer, immediately or after a time.⁴ It sometimes pursues one person as to
[009] the penalty, because of the act and the injuria, another as to restitution, since he
[010] detains the thing, neither of whom may answer without the other, because the disseisor
[011] has nothing to restore, though he is subject to the penalty, nor, though he is able
[012] to restore, has the detainor committed any injuria.⁵ The two, therefore, having been
[013] joined, let the matter then first proceed by the assise, not otherwise. It sometimes
[014] pursues several with respect to the penalty and restitution, according as the thing
[015] has gone through several hands [immediately]⁶ after the disseisin, or has been divided
[016] and partitioned among several heads at the time of the disseisin. By this assise not
[017] only is the corporeal thing seized recovered, but also all the fruits taken in the meantime.⁷
[018] And not only the thing itself but peace and quiet within it.⁸ And not only peace
[019] and quiet within one's own property, but freedom and the removal of a disturbance
[020] [in another's], of which mention was made above, at the beginning. Since this plaint
[021] does not lie for everyone, though he is in possession, we must see for whom the
[022] remedy by assise lies and to whom the plaint belongs, to whom it ought to be made
[023] and when, and in like manner, to whom it does not belong.

[For whom the assise lies.]

[025] It is clear that the plaint lies only for those who hold tenements in their own name,
[026] not in another's,⁹ whether for life or in fee, [but not for a term of years, though he has
[027] another remedy,] whoever they may be, male or female, of age or below, free or
[028] (depending upon the circumstances) bond, and whether they hold in their own persons
[029] or by a procurator, a household, a farmer, or others, no matter whom, who are in
[030] seisin in their name, since they possess by such persons, for he possesses in whose name
[031] the thing is possessed.¹⁰ Hence if one ejects those who are in seisin in the name of their
[032] lords, the assise lies for the lord, not for them, as will be explained below by an example.¹¹
[033] It does not lie for anyone in seisin in the name of another because, though
[034] he is in seisin, he does not possess, as a procurator, a guardian seised by reason of
[035] wardship, a farmer or fructuary seised in the name of his farm, a bondsman, one's own
[036] or another's, a guest or any other person.¹² The assise does not lie for such persons
[037] since

Notes

1. Supra ii, 324, infra 157

2. Not in list of addiciones supra i, 392

3. Infra 75

4. Infra 118-19

5. Supra ii, 291, infra 42, 48

6. Infra 43

7. Infra 76

8. Supra 19, infra 75, 129

9. Infra 30, 33, 124

10. D. 41.2.18.pr.: infra 33

11. D. 43.16.1.22

12. Infra 33