Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 151

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Volume 4, Page 151

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What ought to be done after default in a plea of advowson.

[002] [It is said above that the thing claimed ought to be seized into the king's hand,
[003] and¹ therefore that in a plea of advowson seizure ought to be made into the king's
[004] hand, but since the right of advowson is incorporeal and invisible and cannot be
[005] touched, how may what cannot be seen or touched be seized into the king's hand?²
[006] In that case the duty of the sheriff, will be this, to go, having taken to himself
[007] honest and lawful men of the neighbourhood, to the church whose advowson is
[008] claimed and there publicly announce before honest men that he seizes that church
[009] into the king's hand, and consequently the right of advowson which is in the body
[010] of the church, though the right itself is incorporeal. When he seizes the visible and
[011] tangible body into the king's hand, he consequently seizes that which is in the body,
[012] though invisible and intangible, for a right cannot exist without a subject or body
[013] in which it inheres.³ It is commonly said that one has or claims the right of advowson
[014] of such a church, not of such a manor, and therefore the manor need not be
[015] seized, though a church situated within a manor is one of the appurtenances of the
[016] manor.] The writ of seizure also says that the tenant be summoned to answer and
[017] to show [why] etc.⁴ Thus it is clear that an essoin will never follow such summons,
[018] because the tenant must first answer to the default. Nor is a reasonable day, that is,
[019] fifteen days, [given], because of the contumacy, no more than to a disseisor,⁵ because
[020] of the robbery. The summoners ought to appear before the justices, if necessary, to
[021] attest the summons.

How a summons and default is denied by wager of law.

[023] On the day of the summons the tenant either appears by the writ of seizure or does
[024] not. If he appears, let the demandant be asked first of all whether he wishes to hold
[025] himself to the principal plea or to the default. If to the principal plea, thus waiving,
[026] so to speak, the default, he [the tenant] will answer the demandant on the principal
[027] plea at once and on the same day. If to the default, the tenant must then deny the
[028] summons and the default, and similarly, sometimes, essoins of difficulty in coming
[029] and of bed-sickness if they have been cast,⁶ where a careful examination must be
[030] made as a precaution. If he simply denies the summons and the default, let the
[031] summoners appear and attest the summons, unless it has been adequately attested

Notes

1. ‘et’

2. Infra 185

3. Supra ii, 161

4. Om: ‘de principali placito’

5. ‘disseisitorem’

6. Supra 67, 124, 148