Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 352

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Bracton Online -- English

Volume 4, Page 352

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[001] a younger brother or the like, though another has a greater right, as the elder brother,
[002] or the heirs proceeding from him.

There are those who have as much right.

[004] The tenant may also except that if the demandant has right, there are others, coheirs
[005] and parceners, who have as much right, without whom he alone can claim
[006] nothing, as was said above,¹ or because the thing is held in common with other parceners,
[007] though they are not co-heirs.²

Also that the tenant has a wife whose right is in question.

[009] He may also except that he has an adjunct, as a wife, whose right is in question and
[010] without whom he cannot claim, since no mention is made of a wife in the writ.³ He
[011] may also except that if⁴ the demandant has right, the tenant has a greater right, which
[012] may be settled by the grand assise, if the tenant wishes.

That the descent may be obstructed by a felony committed by some ancestor.

[014] An exception may also lie for the tenant, though the ancestor was so seised of fee and
[015] right as the demandant alleges, because of an obstruction in the descent, as where one
[016] of his ancestors has committed a felony of which he was convicted, as where he was
[017] hanged for felony, or outlawed, properly and according to the law of the land, with or
[018] without a rightful causa, [or] by his own confession, [as] where at some time⁵ he
[019] acknowledged the felony and abjured the realm. And so if one of his ancestors has
[020] remitted his right to the tenant (or to some one from whom the tenant has his causa
[021] possidendi) and quitclaimed, or acknowledged and remitted for himself and his heirs
[022] by a fine made in the court of the lord king.⁶

An exception also lies for the tenant arising from the editio actionis, if nothing at all is said or what is said is obscure.

[024] An exception also lies for the tenant arising from the intentio and the editio actionis,⁷
[025] as where, when the writ has been heard and the demandant ought to put forward his
[026] claim, he puts forward nothing or says nothing at all; the tenant must be discharged
[027] because to one who says nothing no reply need be made. If he puts his claim forward
[028] obscurely or incompletely or uncertainly, he need not be answered, because it does
[029] not matter whether one puts forward no intentio at all, or puts it forward obscurely
[030] or incompletely or uncertainly.⁸ If though he puts forward his intentio fully, he does
[031] not show by what

Notes

1. Supra 330

2. Supra 335

3. Ibid

4. ‘quod si’

5. ‘quandocumque’

6. Infra 359

7. D. 2.13; C. 2.1

8. Supra 294; Drogheda, 122