Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 349

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Volume 3, Page 349

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[001] as was done coram ipso rege in the presence of Stephen of Segrave at Woodstock, in a
[002] jury of twenty-four to convict twelve in the county of Berkshire, [a case] between
[003] Geoffry de Mandeville and Adam de Bono Fossato, where the conviction was first
[004] taken at windsor before Engelard de Cygony and his fellows.¹ A remedy may sometimes
[005] be secured after a conviction after the manner of a certification, because of the
[006] inadequate examination of the justices in the conviction, as was said above, as where
[007] a jury of twenty-four has spoken ambiguously or obscurely or in different ways. In
[008] that case they may be summoned to certify with respect to the oath they took,
[009] as in any other assise.² But we must first see how jurors are to be summoned to
[010] certify in assises generally, and then in juries of twenty four to convict [twelve].
[011] The form of writ for summoning jurors in assises to certify is this.

Writ when the assise is summoned to certify.

[013] ‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. We order you to have before us or before our
[014] justices etc. the bodies of A., B., C. the recognitors of an assise of novel disseisin
[015] summoned and taken before such justices last itinerant in [your] county between D.
[016] plaintiff, and E, with respect to a tenement in such a vill (or thus: ‘We order you
[017] to inquire diligently into who the recognitors of an assise of novel disseisin etc.
[018] were,’ that is, where their names are not known to the court, and the whole as
[019] above.) in order to certify our aforesaid justices at Westminster as to the oath they
[020] took (or thus, ‘more fully as to that assise’) and in the meantime seize the aforesaid
[021] tenement into our hand and keep it safely until you are ordered otherwise. We also
[022] order you to have before the aforesaid justices etc. the body of such a one to hear the
[023] judgment of our court thereon and also his judgment for his several defaults. And
[024] have there the names of the recognitors and this writ etc.’ The writ may be drawn in
[025] shorter form. It may be drawn in this same form with respect to all other assises, as
[026] mortdancestor and the others in which a conviction would lie by the twenty-four.
[027] If complaint is made of the action of the justices,³ let the justices first be summoned to
[028] make the record; the recognitors may then be summoned to hear that record. If
[029] they have made several defaults, then to hear their judgment for their several
[030] defaults. And always, before all else, we must see

Notes

1. Not in B.N.B.

2. Infra 350

3. ‘Si autem . . . iustitiariorum,’ from infra 350, line 4