Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 329

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Volume 4, Page 329

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[001] the king has given him leave to plead, because, just as an Englishman is not heard
[002] impleading any one with respect to lands and tenements in France, so an alien or
[003] Frenchman who is in the allegiance of the king of France [and resident]¹ in France
[004] ought not to be heard pleading in England. There are however, some who are in the
[005] allegiance of both and always were, before the loss of Normandy and after, and who
[006] plead here and there because they are in the allegiance of both, as William the earl
[007] Marshal dwelling in England and Michael de Fiennes dwelling in France and many
[008] others.² If war occurs between the kings, each of them remains personally with the
[009] king to whom he has done liege homage and does his servitium debitum to him with
[010] whom he does not stand in the person [of an attorney].³

Exception against a demandant because his status is in doubt, for several reasons.

[012] An exception arising from the person of the demandant also lies for a tenant because
[013] of his uncertain status and the doubtful outcome of some matter. A man's status may
[014] be uncertain in many ways, because of a change of dignity, as where he is established
[015] in one dignity and has been chosen or proposed for another; when he has given his
[016] assent, his status is in suspense until he is confirmed, and so nothing done with him,
[017] while his status is pending, can be sure. The same may be said if one is established in a
[018] dignity and is involved in an action of deposition, whether in accordance with his
[019] deserts or not, and when he has been deposed, justly or unjustly, has appealed;
[020] during the appeal no suit against him is valid, because if his deposition is upheld,
[021] everything must be revoked and thus the judgment illusory. A man's status may
[022] also be in doubt because of a criminal action brought against him, where danger of
[023] life or members is involved: he is not bound to answer in a civil case (nor will an answer
[024] be made him) until he has succeeded in defending himself in the criminal case or
[025] failed to do so, for if action were first taken in the civil case and he were then convicted
[026] of the crime, it would have to relate back to the time of the crime committed,
[027] and thus whatever was done in the interval between the commission of the crime and
[028] the man's conviction must be revoked.⁴ Action cannot therefore he taken against
[029] such men until their status is made certain, as above more fully [in the portion] on
[030] the pleas of the crown. With respect to deposition [the case] of the bishop of Bath and
[031] the abbot of Glastonbury before the justices of the Bench may be cited as an example.⁵

Notes

1. B.N.B., no. 110 (Hil. and Easter, 4)

2. Powicke, King Henry III and the Lord Edward, i, 126; Loss of Normandy (2nd ed.) 296

3. Supra ii, 231, 236

4. Supra ii, 319, iv, 292, 326

5. Not in B.N.B.; supra 287