Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 381

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Volume 3, Page 381

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[001] in the county of Shropshire, [the case] of one Emma who claimed dower.¹ And so of
[002] anyone else whose assent is required. And if dower so constituted is not restored,
[003] she is aided by the following writ: ‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. Order A. right-fully
[004] and without delay to render to B. who was the wife of C. so much land with the
[005] appurtenances in such a vill of which the same C. her late husband and the heir of
[006] such a one endowed her with the consent of the aforesaid, his father (or ‘mother’
[007] or the like) when he married her at the church door, and of which she has nothing,
[008] as she says, and of which she complains that the aforesaid A. deforces her. And unless
[009] he does so, and if the aforesaid B. had made you secure etc. (as above).’ Before the
[010] person summoned appears he will have one essoin, as above, and with respect to
[011] defaults and the rest let it be done as above, until he appears. When he appears,
[012] [she must put forward her intentio], [it may be sufficiently drawn from the foregoing
[013] how the woman ought to put forward her intentio.] and after having put it forward
[014] she must have proof, suit or some other proof, as above, and let proof be made here
[015] as there.² [If the jurors are uncertain as to some matters and [certain] as to others,
[016] [as where] they say that they well know she was married, but not whether she was
[017] endowed by consent or not, she will not recover, unless her husband had seisin of
[018] that same land at some time during his life, for then his seisin suffices to provide her
[019] with dower though [her endowment] de assensu parentum is invalid, as [in the roll]
[020] of Hilary term in the thirteenth year of king Henry, at the end of the roll.]³

If she was endowed by consent.

[022] When it is excepted against her that she was never endowed by the consent and
[023] agreement of such ancestor, and she says that she was, let an inquest be held by a
[024] writ in this form: ‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. We order you to inquire diligently
[025] as to those who were present when A. married B., and to cause twelve, chosen from
[026] among them as well as from other free and discreet men of your county, to come
[027] before our justices on such a day to recognize whether on the day the same A.
[028] married the same B. he endowed her by the assent and agreement of such a one or
[029] not.’ On this matter may be found in the roll of Trinity term in the fourth year of
[030] king Henry in the county of Suffolk, [the case] of one Alexandra.⁴

An exception lies for the heir because more than one woman is claiming dower.

[032] The exception of several women claiming dower on the death of one man also lies
[033] for the tenant, whether he is the heir or not,⁵ [for] he may except that he ought not
[034] answer to the two any more than if two implead one of the same land, of the whole or
[035] some part, whether the plea is on the possession or on the property.

Notes

1. B.N.B., no. 737; C.R.R., xiv, no. 2147; Hall in E.H.R., lxxix, 156

2. Supra 378

3. Not in B.N.B.; C.R.R., xiii, no. 2147 (Easter); belongs infra n. 4

4. B.N.B., no. 1392; C.R.R., ix, 60: jury by consent of parties

5. Supra ii, 266, iii, 362-3