Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 297

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Volume 4, Page 297

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[001] henceforth, when bastardy is objected against anyone in the king's court for this
[002] reason, that he is a bastard because born before the espousals or marriage contracted
[003] between his father and mother, let the plea be sent to the ordinary of the place, and
[004] let the enquiry be made by these words, namely, whether he was born before espousals
[005] or marriage or after, and let the ordinary reply to the lord king in the same
[006] words, without any qualification.¹ On the taking of that inquest, let every appeal
[007] cease, as in every other inquest of bastardy the taking of which is entrusted to any
[008] ordinary, and above all, if an appeal must of necessity be taken, let none be made
[009] outside the realm. It was then ordered that this rule should be kept and observed in
[010] the future as to those for whom judgment was to be given in the king's court, both
[011] in pleas begun and to be begun, when bastardy is objected for that reason.] ²<That
[012] an assise of mortdancestor proceeded in the court of the lord king as to bastardy of
[013] that kind, the demandants being within age, where the jurors said that they were
[014] not nearer heirs because born in adultery before marriage, is proved [in the roll] of
[015] the eyre of Martin of Pateshull in the county of Kent in the [eleventh and the beginning
[016] of the twelfth] years of king Henry son of king John, an assise of mortdancestor
[017] [beginning] ‘if Henry Panforer,’ concerning a tenement in Northton.>³ Therefore
[018] for the reasons aforesaid and by virtue of that common consent, it may be in the
[019] election of the lord king whether he wishes to entrust the inquest to the ordinaries or
[020] hold it in his court because [they amount to the same]. If in his court, since the
[021] exception is clear and unambiguous, and based upon a particular reason, the
[022] answer ought not to be indefinite, but as the exception is put forward, that he is a
[023] bastard according to the laws and customs of England because born before espousals
[024] or marriage, so the demandant ought to replicate and say that he is legitimate for the
[025] contrary reason, because born after the espousals or marriage, and so deny the
[026] tenant's intentio, which he does not do if he merely says that he is legitimate and is
[027] prepared to prove it when he should, because he does not reply to the reason why. He
[028] ought therefore to give the reason, that he is legitimate because [born] after espousals
[029] or

Notes

1. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1231-34, 598-9 (Oct. 1234)

2. Supra i, 419

3. B.N.B., no. 1780; supra iii, 317 (not an addicio), infra 301 (not an addicio)