Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 298

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Volume 4, Page 298

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[001] marriage. ¹If after an indefinite answer the inquest is sent to court christian and the
[002] indefinite reply is returned that he is legitimate, or if the reason is objected and the
[003] reply is not made in the same words, only that he is legitimate, on the default of court
[004] christian let an inquest be held in the king's court, ‘whether before marriage or after,’
[005] because it is evident that there may be deception there, and what is answered is true
[006] and false, from different points of view, because he may be legitimate with respect to
[007] the statutes of the church, as to orders and dignities, and a bastard with respect to
[008] the laws and customs of England, as to successions, because before, though legitimate
[009] with respect to the first whether before or after. ²If when bastardy is objected
[010] in that way, for that reason, the demandant answers vaguely, let an action be denied
[011] him, as though he had not answered at all,³ and let the tenant hold in peace. If it is
[012] objected against the tenant and he answers vaguely, let him lose the thing possessed
[013] as one without defence, because to make no answer or to answer uncertainly
[014] amounts to the same thing. ⁴<For this reason an objection of bastardy without the
[015] addition of a reason is never valid: because if the objection is made simply, without
[016] the addition of a reason, the reply of the ordinary will also be simple, and in view of
[017] the ambiguity the king's court may be deceived to its prejudice, because unless the
[018] reason is added, the reply cannot state whether before or after marriage or espousal,
[019] or how long after the burial of the father.>⁵ To the pope and the priesthood belong all
[020] things spiritual; to the king and kingdom those that are temporal, in accordance
[021] with what is said, ‘Heaven to the lord of heaven but to the sons of men He gave the
[022] earth.’⁶ Hence it is not within the province of the pope to dispose of temporal things
[023] or to order them, no more than may a king or prince deal with spiritual things, lest
[024] one put his sickle into the other's harvest.⁷ Just as the pope may ordain to orders
[025] and dignities in spiritual matters, so may the king in temporal, with respect to the
[026] giving of inheritances and the instituting of heirs, according to the custom of his
[027] kingdom, for every kingdom has its own customs, differing from others, for there
[028] may be one custom as to succession in the kingdom of England and another in the
[029] kingdom of France. And note that if in excepting bastardy one

Notes

1. New paragraph

2. New paragraph

3. Supra 294, infra 352

4. Supra i, 419

5. Infra 299

6. Psl. 113:16

7. Decretum: C.6, qu.3, ca.1; supra 281