Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 76

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Volume 4, Page 76

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[001] the lord king's writ, since the service of the lord king ought to be to the damage of
[002] no one.¹ The essoin is warranted in many ways. Sometimes by the king's writ as of
[003] his service, where no oath is necessary since the lord king bears witness by his letters
[004] that the essoinee is so detained in his service. With respect to the service of the king
[005] we must see for whom the essoin lies. And here we must distinguish whether one is
[006] bound of necessity to such service, or is accompanying another who is so bound, as
[007] a knight or servant of the household; all these ought to be aided.² If one is not bound
[008] for the aforesaid reasons, but contrives to be, that he may be absent though not
[009] obliged to be,³ the king does not aid him, except as a matter of grace and favour,
[010] because the service of the lord king ought not to be injurious to anyone. We must
[011] also see whether the essoinee of the service of the lord king could come conveniently
[012] or not. And if, though he could not come conveniently, he could send.⁴ When he
[013] could do both these things, let the chancellor be on his guard lest the lord king's
[014] writ contain a falsehood.⁵ We must see whether the summons arrived before he had
[015] set out in the service of the lord king, so that he could⁶ conveniently appoint an
[016] attorney, or whether the summons of the army came before the summons of the
[017] plea, so that he could not do so conveniently, because the king's order read that
[018] ‘immediately upon the sight of these letters’ or ‘with all haste within a short time.’⁷
[019] If he is not so far off in the king's service but that he may come without danger to
[020] himself or loss to the lord king, he is not forced to do so,⁸ for the warrant of the
[021] king's service ought not to be damaging to him who pleads it, no more than to him
[022] who is impleaded.> But since the grounds of excuse are various, in accordance with
[023] what was said above, and from the various grounds and different excuses⁹ various
[024] and different essoins follow, therefore let us distinguish the varieties of essoins in
[025] order. First of all, let us speak of the essoin of difficulty in coming, which is of many
[026] kinds.

Of the excuses of one who does not come to court after summons by an essoin of difficulty in coming, and of the division of essoins.

[028] The division of essoins is brief, because they are either of difficulty in coming or of
[029] bed-sickness. The essoin of difficulty in coming is so divided that it is either of
[030] beyond the sea or of this side the sea. One is excused of beyond the sea by an essoin
[031] of service of the Eternal King, as ‘of the Holy Land,’ this distinction being made,
[032] whether it is a simple pilgrimage to the Holy Land or a general passage.¹⁰ If it is a
[033] simple pilgrimage, the essoinee will be given the term of a year and day. If it is a
[034] general passage, the plea ought to be put sine die

Notes

1. Supra 71, infra 155, 158; D. 50,17.140

2. Supra 71

3. Supra 71, infra 79

4. Om: ‘nec’

5. ‘ne breve . . . falsitatem,’ from lines 13-14

6. ‘posset’

7. Om: ‘quod . . . non potuit,’ redundant

8. Cf. supra 71: ‘non excusatur’

9. ‘excusationibus’

10. Supra 75