Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 361

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Volume 3, Page 361

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[001] of her dower, for he is not heir, nor does he hold as heir, but as of his escheat for
[002] lack of an heir,¹ which may not be said of the escheat of a bastard, for there the chief
[003] lord stands in the place of the heir with respect to the restoration of dower,² because
[004] though there is no heir, there is no wrongful act.

If the warrantor is in the fealty of the king of France.

[006] [If the warrantor is in the fealty of the lord king of France and an exception is raised
[007] as to her warrantor, the exaction of dower will remain in suspense in perpetuity, or
[008] at least until such time as the two lands are united. And that she ought not to have
[009] dower may be found [in the roll] of Hilary term in the seventeenth year of king Henry
[010] in the counties of Lincoln and Northampton, [the case] of Eudo de Calethorpe,³
[011] because her warrantor⁴ will have the same judgment with respect to the two parts
[012] despite the fact that he has right.]⁵ And just as the chief lord, to whom the land
[013] reverts for lack of an heir, ought to stand⁶ in the place of the heir and in that of a
[014] warrantor, so ought an assign by the modus of the gift.⁷ ⁸<If a woman cannot produce
[015] her warrantor because he is overseas in the Holy Land, she must, in an action of
[016] dower, await his arrival, as in the roll of the eyre of Martin of Pateshull in the county
[017] of York in the third year of king Henry [the case] of Matilda the wife of Robert de
[018] Heworth and Alexander the son of Ralf.⁹ As¹⁰ the tenant need not answer [the woman]
[019] without her warrantor, so his warrantor need not, [when] he has warranted him,¹¹
[020] because he has that same remedy, as in the eyre of Martin of Pateshull in the county
[021] of Lincoln in the third year of the king [the case] of Dereina the wife of Robert
[022] Brito.>¹² When an exception of this kind is raised against the woman, it will not
[023] always be in her power to produce the heir and warrantor of her dower; therefore
[024] let a writ be drawn for her in this form.

A writ for producing the heir and warrantor.

[026] ‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. Summon A. of N. by good summoners to be before
[027] the justices etc. to warrant to B. who was the wife of C. of N. the dower of the said B.
[028] which she claims in our same court etc. against D. and as to which this same D. says
[029] that he is unwilling to answer her without the warrantor of her dower. And have
[030] there etc. Witness etc.’¹³ [Note that if an exception of this kind is sometimes available
[031] to the chief lord against the woman, namely, that she produce the warrantor
[032] of her dower, it is not available to him to whom the chief lord has demised the wardship
[033] of another's land, as [in the roll] of Michaelmas term in the eighth and the beginning
[034] of the ninth years of king Henry in the county of Warwick, [the case] of John
[035] de Mar and Eva his wife and William of Cantelupe.]¹⁴

If she produces someone other than the true heir.

[037] When an exception of this kind is raised against the woman and there is a dispute

Notes

1. Supra ii, 195

2. Supra ii, 76

3. B.N.B., no. 730; see also no. 110

4. ‘warantus’

5. Belongs supra 360, at n. 6; infraiv, 292, 328

6. ‘habere,’ as line 14

7. Supra ii, 82

8. Supra i, 409; belongs supra 360, at n. 6

9. Selden Soc. vol. 56, no. 178; see also B.N.B., no. 71

10. ‘Sicut’

11. ‘warantizaverit’

12. Selden Soc. vol. 53, no. 591; not in B.N.B.

13. Belongs supra 360, at n. 6

14. B.N.B., no. 904; C.R.R. xi, no. 2446