Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 161

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Volume 4, Page 161

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[001] and which restricts the suit and the prolongation of the suit more severely,¹ that is,
[002] that the land be seized into the king's hand by the great cape, as said above.

If the demandant defaults and the tenant appears; whether the demandant can cure his default.

[004] Suppose that the demandant defaults and the tenant appears and the writ. Having
[005] presented himself [up to the fourth day], on the fourth day the tenant will withdraw
[006] quit of that writ and the demandant will be in mercy. But if he defaults before
[007] the fourth day, on the fourth day, or later, before judgment on the default, he may
[008] well cure his default by the excuses mentioned above,² [and even if judgment has
[009] been given it will be revoked, if the excuse is proved,]³ until he has put himself on
[010] the grand assise so that the four knights have been summoned to choose [twelve],
[011] as above, in the case of the tenant.⁴ For in this regard the reus is not permitted
[012] anything not permitted the actor. [That the [demandant] may have a remedy on his
[013] default even [after] the four are chosen,⁵ even after judgment [on the default], is
[014] proved [in the roll] of Easter term in the fourteenth year of king Henry, [the case] of
[015] Paulinus of Winchelsea and Stephan of Fretewell in the county of Oxford,⁶ in the
[016] presence of Stephan of Segrave and Ralph [Neville] bishop of Chichester and then
[017] chancellor,⁷ in which Paulinus was demandant and cured his default after the four
[018] knights had been summoned to choose twelve by the excuse of the service of the lord
[019] king.]

If the demandant does not come nor the writ and the tenant has essoined himself.

[021] If the demandant and the writ do not come on the first day and the tenant has
[022] come,⁸ though there is no one to whom he may answer nor any authority or warrant
[023] for proceeding, he is not wholly freed from court but let him be told to go as he
[024] came.⁹ And let the same be done as to his essoiner, if he is essoined. And so conversely,
[025] if the demandant comes but neither the writ nor the tenant, let him be told
[026] what was told the tenant, and his essoiner similarly. If the demandant and tenant
[027] come or essoin themselves, both or one, another day may be given even if the writ
[028] has not come,¹⁰ and let the demandant or his essoiner be told to cause his writ to
[029] come on that day, and the sheriff will be ordered on behalf of the king etc. For it is
[030] presumed, since both appear or essoin themselves, that the sheriff received the writ
[031] and that the tenant was summoned. This exception must be made to what is said
[032] above:

Notes

1. Supra ii, 325, infra 168

2. Supra 148, 158

3. Om: ‘etiam’

4. ‘tenente,’ supra 154, infra 164

5. ‘etiam postquam quatuor eligantur’; om: ‘duodecim’

6. B.N.B., no. 397 (margin): ‘Nota quod dominus Rex salvat defaltam petentis postquam se posuerit in magnam assisam ita quod iiij electi ad eligendum xij, et postquam tenentes recesserunt sine die, resummonita est loquela’; no roll extant

7. Neville was deprived of the seal 28 August 1238, recovered it 5 May 1242. Died February 1244

8. ‘venerit’

9. Supra 65, 102

10. Supra 66