Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 3, Page 402

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Volume 3, Page 402

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[001] writ proceed to an inquest, as we may proceed to juries where the sheriff is ordered
[002] to justice. On the other hand, though the clause that if the lord does not do it, let
[003] the sheriff do it, is contained in the great writ of right, we do not proceed to the taking
[004] of a grand assise, but the tenant will have his peace until the coming of the justices,
[005] if he sues out a writ of peace.¹ ²If he does not, he may be in default, as above, [on this
[006] matter [see the portion on the action] by writ of right.]³

If a warrantor is vouched.

[008] If a warrantor is vouched, one or several, and if, when the heir, the warrantor of
[009] dower, is reached, he immediately acknowledges that the thing is the woman's
[010] dower,⁴ let the woman have seisin, with damages or without, in accordance with what
[011] was said above.⁵ If he has exceptions, let him defend himself by exceptions if he can.
[012] He may except in many ways, for example, that the land does not belong to her dower,
[013] or if she was in seisin thereof it was not in the name of dower but for some other
[014] reason, or that she was never endowed therewith, but specifically of other land, or of
[015] a smaller amount than a third part of which she held herself content,⁶ and as to that
[016] let him produce suit and proof. [Or], whether she was seised or not, and whether the
[017] land belonged to her dower or not, that she remitted and quitclaimed her right in that
[018] land. [Or] that the land does not belong to her dower because she has her dower in
[019] full as it was constituted her, and had⁷ more in dower than she ought to have according
[020] to the law and custom of the realm, and hence the heir brought a writ of admeasurement
[021] to the county court, which is this.⁸ [That matter cannot easily be
[022] determined in the county court if the woman has dower in divers counties, for though
[023] how much she holds in one county may be ascertained, and how much the third
[024] part is worth, and how much the two parts, nevertheless by that it cannot establish
[025] the value of all the lands which are in other counties. And unless the value of all the
[026] lands is established, whether she has more or less cannot be established. Therefore,
[027] [since] the admeasurement cannot be made unless it is known that she has more than
[028] it is proper for her to have,⁹ where she has several lands in divers counties the admeasurement
[029] must proceed in the court of the lord king, that all the lands may be
[030] extended and valued, the two parts as well as the third, and the extent and valuation
[031] sent to the justices, according to the form above [in the portion] on making extents
[032] and valuations.¹⁰ If

Notes

1. Infra iv, 55, 56

2. New sentence

3. Infra iv, 55, 56

4. ‘esse dotem mulieris’

5. Supra 399

6. Infra 405

7. ‘habuit’

8. Infra 403

9. Om: ‘Igitur’

10. Supra ii, 219; om: ‘Et sic . . . regis,’ repetition