Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 398

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Volume 3, Page 398

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[001] recovered, as [in the roll] of the eyre of William of Ralegh in the county of Bedford
[002] [the case] of one Emma Bonastre.¹ And what if the warrantor has nothing? Let the
[003] farmer then wait until the dower is liberated, [When it is, the dower must revert to
[004] the farmer to hold until his term [is completed], and then first revert to the heir, by
[005] the judgment, though it is generally true that dower ought always to revert to the
[006] heir, who² [is] the warrantor of the dower, or to him who stands in the place of the
[007] heir³ because⁴ he has the two parts as his escheat, but sometimes by judgment it
[008] ought to revert to another though he is not the warrantor, by judgment, as here,
[009] because of the failure of the warrantor, who cannot give escambium for the term or
[010] the feoffment and the like,⁵ of which reversion let mention⁶ always be made in
[011] the judgment and in the enrolment.] because a woman ought not to remain unendowed.⁷
[012] And that she ought not to remain unendowed though the warrantor has
[013] nothing whence he may give escambium to the tenant, whether she was specifically
[014] endowed or not, may be found [in the roll of the last eyre of Martin of Pateshull]
[015] in the county of Lincoln, [the case] of Alice the widow who claimed dower against
[016] Thomas of Sancto Licio.⁸

If the dower sought, as to which an inquest is to be made, lies within two counties.

[018] When there is doubt as to the constitution of dower, and the land from which it is
[019] claimed lies in two counties, when an inquest ought to be held, let eight knights be
[020] taken from one county and eight from the other and let the inquest proceed by them.
[021] [If] the jurors, when asked, [know] nothing at all, they prove [nothing at all]⁹ for the
[022] woman, [who] will take nothing, and so if they are doubtful, she having, so to speak,
[023] proved nothing.

Of giving the woman seisin where no objection can be raised against her claim.

[025] When there is no exception which may be raised against the woman claiming dower,
[026] and it can in no way be denied that she was endowed as she says, let seisin be given
[027] her by this writ: ‘The king to the sheriff, greeting. Know that A. who was the wife of
[028] B. recovered in our court before etc. by judgment of our same court (or ‘by the
[029] default of such a one’) her seisin of so much land with the appurtenances in such a
[030] vill against C, as her dower. Therefore we order you to cause her to have full seisin
[031] of the aforesaid land with the appurtenances without delay. Witness etc.’¹⁰ [Similarly,
[032] ‘cause her to have so many marks, which were awarded her in our same court
[033] for her damages for the wrongful detention which the aforesaid C. committed in
[034] connexion with her dower aforesaid,’ or in another way: ‘and from the lands and
[035] chattels of the aforesaid C.¹¹ cause so much money to be levied and given to her
[036] without delay [for the damages she sustained] etc. (as above),’

Notes

1. Not in B.N.B.; no roll extant

2. ‘qui’

3. ‘heredis’

4. ‘quia’

5. Supra 364, infra 411

6. Om: ‘non’

7. ‘quia mulier . . . non debet,’ from lines 10-11

8. Not in B.N.B.; no roll extant

9. Reading: ‘nihil omnino sciant, nihil omnino probent’

10. ‘Teste etc.,’ from last line

11. ‘C’