Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 140

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Volume 4, Page 140

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[001] who is so essoined may ratify the answer if he wishes and admit that he sent such
[002] responsalis, and thus the plea may proceed and be determined in the name of the
[003] responsalis. [If he does not ratify the answer, he will be adjudged in default. He
[004] therefore must ratify the answer of the responsalis and admit that he sent him.]¹
[005] After every appearance, when the lord of the suit has ratified his answer, the responsalis
[006] may essoin himself of difficulty in coming in his own name, just as if he had
[007] been attorned in court. [If he does not ratify the answer, he will be adjudged in
[008] default. He therefore must of necessity ratify it, but nevertheless if [the essoinee]
[009] wishes to appear in his own person and answer, he may well do so; the intervening
[010] time and the appearance at the Tower will be saved by the presence of the responsalis.]
[011] If the knights do not come on the day of the summons, nor the essoinee, let the
[012] responsalis always sue against the knights, and let the default of the knights be
[013] enrolled as follows: ‘Such a one, who claims to be the responsalis of such a one, offered
[014] himself on the fourth day against A. B. C. and D., knights sent etc.’ The matter may
[015] be so determined. And finally note that if the responsalis appears at the Tower
[016] earlier than he ought, that will not harm the ‘languid’ person, provided the responsalis
[017] appears on the lawful day. If he appears later, that will harm the essoinee.
[018] If the responsalis offers himself earlier than he ought and the essoinee does so on the
[019] lawful day, whether the responsalis comes on the lawful day or not the tenant will
[020] be saved from default, whether he has avowed the responsalis or not. If the responsalis
[021] comes on the lawful day and the essoinee on the morrow, or on the third day or the
[022] fourth, the tenant will be saved from default by the responsalis, as was said a little
[023] above. There are many things to be said about the responsalis, but let what has been
[024] said suffice for the present.

If there are several tenant parceners having a single right, how proceedings are taken in an essoin of bed-sickness.

[026] We explained above how to proceed in an essoin if a single tenant essoins himself
[027] of bed-sickness, and said that if several essoin themselves² of bed-sickness and [one]
[028] once has ‘languor,’ that the essoin of bed-sickness will cease, and that in an entire
[029] plea he will have no more than a single ‘languor.’³ Now we must see how proceedings
[030] are to be taken in an essoin of bed-sickness after an essoin of difficulty

Notes

1. Om: ‘Et sic . . . terminari,’ redundant

2. ‘plures essoniaverint’

3. Supra 93, 103, 114