Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 369

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Volume 3, Page 369

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... land whence he can warrant in the county in which it is sought but has in another, let this writ be drawn.

[001] ‘The king to such a bishop, greeting. Know that when in our court etc. A. who was
[002] the wife of B. etc. (as above) as to which the aforesaid C. complains that the same D.
[003] has not yet made him escambium. And because the aforesaid D. has no tenement
[004] outside your liberty, as we have heard, we order you to distrain the aforesaid D. to
[005] be before our justices etc. to give escambium to the said C. to the value of the aforesaid
[006] third part or to show why he ought not to do so. Witness etc.’ If a woman recovers
[007] a specified dower in a certain manor through a constitution of dower made
[008] subject to this condition,¹ that if it amounts to a third part, let it remain to the woman
[009] as a whole; if there is less there than a third, let what she lacks² be supplied her elsewhere
[010] in a suitable place; if there is more, let the surplus be returned to the heir, a
[011] constitution which may be found [in the roll] of Trinity term in the fourteenth year
[012] of king Henry in the county of Norfolk, [the case] of Lecia de Eggesfield,³ then, an
[013] extent having first been made as to the value of the manor, let the woman be put
[014] in seisin by the following writ.

Writ where a woman has recovered her seisin of a specified dower.

[016] ‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. Know that when in our court etc. A. who was the
[017] wife of B. by judgment of our same court recovered against C. her seisin of the whole
[018] of such a manor with the appurtenances, as the dower of which she was specifically
[019] endowed, subject to the condition that if that manor amounts to the third part of
[020] all the lands and tenements which the aforesaid B. her late husband held on the day
[021] he married the said A., that it remain to the same A. in dower as a whole, as aforesaid,
[022] but if it exceeds the value of the third part of all the aforesaid lands and tenements,
[023] that the excess be returned to the same C., and if there is less than a third
[024] part there, that which is lacking be supplied to her elsewhere in a suitable place from
[025] the lands and tenements of the aforesaid C., therefore we order you without delay
[026] to cause A. to have full seisin of the aforesaid manor with the appurtenances in
[027] accordance with what was said above. And that by the oath of free and lawful men
[028] of your county you cause to be extended and valued all the lands and all the tenements
[029] which belonged to the aforesaid B. in your county on the day he married the same
[030] A., in demesnes, villeinages, the services of free men, and in all other things, no matter
[031] who holds them. And if by the aforesaid extent and valuation you find that the
[032] aforesaid manor is worth more

Notes

1. Supra ii, 270

2. ‘defuerit,’ as below

3. C.R.R., xiv, nos. 253 (Trin. 14), 926; not in B.N.B.; Hall in E.H.R., lxxix, 156; a similar endowment: Cal. Cl. Rolls, 1234-37, 205