Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 310

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Volume 4, Page 310

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[001] of villeinage will always bar him, as above in several places;¹ and also in the eyre of
[002] Martin of Pateshull, [in the roll] of pleas reserved for judgment in several counties,
[003] in the third year of king Henry in the county of Dorset, [the case] of Hamelin son of
[004] Ralph.²

Also because of crime, if a man or any of his ancestors has been convicted of felony.

[006] A peremptory exception arising from the person of the demandant also lies for the
[007] tenant because of the demandant's crime and delict, for which he has been convicted
[008] by judgment or³ outlawed, or has abjured the realm, though⁴ he has afterwards been
[009] restored to the peace by the king, an exception which also lies for the tenant when it
[010] arises from the person of an ancestor⁵ of the demandant just as from his own, so that
[011] the inheritance or tenement claimed cannot descend to the demandant, as where the
[012] demandant himself has committed felony, [or] his father or brother, mother or sister,
[013] from whom or through whom the right ought to descend to the demandant.⁶ It is
[014] important to see how he has been outlawed [and how restored,] whether by the law
[015] of the land or contrary to the law of the land and by mere voluntas. The demandant
[016] may answer to this exception in many ways, that it was not done according to the law
[017] of the land, [or] in the proper place, that is, in the county court, [or] that he was not
[018] exacted from county court to county court but proclaimed an outlaw in markets
[019] and other public places by the king's writ and by the lord king's mere will, the requirements
[020] of the law not being observed, as [in the roll] of Michaelmas term in the
[021] fifteenth year of king Henry in the county of Shropshire, [the case] of Fulk son of
[022] Warin.⁷ How and when an exception of this kind ought to be valid may be seen
[023] above [in the portion] on the pleas of the crown, of the outlawry of outlaws and their
[024] inlawry, and to what they may be restored and to what not.⁸

Also because of civil death, if one has betaken himself to religion, provided that he has assumed the habit of profession.

[026] A peremptory exception arising from the person of the demandant also lies for the
[027] tenant because of civil death, as where one has betaken himself to religion and afterwards,
[028] having returned to the world, wishes to sue and claim an inheritance; he will
[029] not be heard, since he who has once betaken himself to religion renounces all things
[030] that are of the world, this distinction, however, being taken, whether he has assumed
[031] only the habit of probation or the habit of profession. When this exception has been
[032] raised and that replication made against it, the taking of an inquest will be entrusted
[033] to court christian,

Notes

1. Supra ii, 31, iii, 91, 109, 308, 309

2. B.N.B., no. 1411; C.R.R., ix, 92; B.N.B., iii, p. 722 (Appendix 8); C.R.R., viii, 98; supra iii, 109, 309

3. ‘vel’

4. ‘licet’

5. ‘antecessoris’

6. Supra ii, 367, 377

7. C.R.R., xiv, no. 1427 (Easter 15); not in B.N.B.; no roll for Mich. 15-16

8. Supra ii, 352 ff.