Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 374

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Volume 3, Page 374

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[001] provided the marriage can be proved, and will obtain the inheritance. He who
[002] was born after the public ceremony, though legitimate, will not be the nearer heir
[003] with respect to succession, but the woman, because of the ceremony (and the constitution
[004] of dower) in the face of the church, will obtain dower, as will be explained below
[005] [in the portion on] the exception ‘not at the church door.’¹ Of marriages, some are
[006] de jure, others de facto. A man may have several wives de jure, not at the same time
[007] but successively, that is, one after the other, and the last, she who is in possession
[008] of the husband at the time of death, if she was endowed at the church door at the
[009] time of the marriage, will obtain dower. A man may have several wives at one and
[010] the same time, but [since] he may have only one de jure, all the others will of necessity
[011] be de facto. Whether he has one or several, de facto, the first and principal, with whom
[012] he lawfully contracted at the church door, [or elsewhere, provided it may be proved,
[013] either by words de praesenti or de futuro provided physical union has followed,]² will
[014] be [his] lawful wife, with respect to the succession of heirs, whether offspring have been
[015] born of all the wives or some,³ and as to the exaction of dower, provided it was
[016] constituted at the church door.⁴ In a clandestine marriage dower⁵ will never follow,
[017] if ‘not at the church door’ is excepted against her when she claims dower, as will be
[018] explained more fully below, in [the portion on] the exception ‘[not] at the church
[019] door.’⁶

When proof has been made in court christian and in the inquest, let the party be summoned by the writ given below.

[021] When the marriage has been proved lawful in court christian.⁷ When by the letters
[022] of the ordinary it is made clear to the king or his justices that the marriage is proved,
[023] let a resummons of the plea to the court of the lord king be made at once, at the instance
[024] of the woman, and let the tenant be summoned by this writ: ‘The king to the
[025] sheriff, greeting. Summon C. by good summoners to be before our justices at West-minster
[026] to hear the record and his judgment in the plea which was in our same court
[027] before our justices etc. between A. the demandant and the same C. the tenant,
[028] concerning so much land with the appurtenances in such a vill which the aforesaid
[029] A. in our court before etc. claimed in dower against the same C., which plea was
[030] sent to court christian because the aforesaid C. objected against A. that she was
[031] never joined in lawful matrimony (or ‘matrimonially espoused’)⁸ to B. And have

Notes

1. Infra 376, 377

2. Infra iv, 305

3. ‘sive proles . . . quibusdam,’ from lines 10-11

4. Infra 376

5. ‘dos’

6. Infra 377

7. Rubric

8. ‘legitimo matrimonio copulata vel matrimonialiter desponsata,’ as supra 372