Detinue against executors for a child's reason able part of the deceased's personalty. The Constitution of Archbishop St. Edmund "De Pignoribus," and portions of the Commentary of Lyndwood." Inhibemus, ne pignus retinere quispiam contendat, postquam de fructibus sortem [principale debitum] perceperit deductis expensis, quoniam usura est." "Pignus." "In largâ significatione pignus est non solùm rei mobilis, sed etiam immobilis." "De fructibus." "Ex hoc apparet quòd loquitur, ubi res immobilis datur in pignus." "Fructus percepti ex re pignoratâ extenuant debitum, et computantur in sortem; et sic fit compensatio fructuum ad pecuniam, et de specie ad quantitatem." "Perceperit." "Sed quid si nondum perceperit sortem de fructibus, sed per eum stetit quo minus perceperit; nunquid fructus, quos percipere potuit, debeant computari in sortem? Dic quòd sic." "Deductis expensis." "Fructus namque dicuntur, qui deductis expensis supersunt." "Sed quæro, quid si res pignorata consistat in ipso fructu, utpote in fructibus pendentibus, vel in fructibus pecorum, partu ancillæ, et aliis hujusmodi, quæ nata sunt, vel nasci possunt; nunquid tales fructus debent computari in sortem? Dic quòd sic." "Et etiam scias, quòd si quis pro pecuniâ sibi mutuatâ obliget rem aliquam in pignus, cujus usus pretio æstimari potest; ille qui mutuavit, debet copulare usum illius rei in æstimatione ejus quod mutuavit, alioquin esset usurarium. Et hoc verum, nisi fortè esset talis res, cujus usus sine pretio solet concedi inter amicos, ut putà liber accommodatus, et hujusmodi." "Usura est." "Et est ratio, quia recipiendo ultra principale debitum fructus rei impignoratæ, vel ipsorum partem, sic ultra sortem reciperet, et per consequens committeret usuram." -Lyndwood, 160, 161. This shows to you, &c., that R. [and] G., executors of the testament of H., tortiously render not to him [the plaintiff] chattels to the value of 10 marks: and for this [reason] tortiously ***: the aforesaid H., father [of the plaintiff] &c., whose executors they [the defendants] are, died in such a place, and had chattels to the value of 30 marks, to wit, wheat, barley, &c.: where by the usage of the country, the third part ought to remain to the deceased, and one part to the wife, and one part to his children unmarried: Wherefore after the death of the father came he [the plaintiff] to the executors, and prayed them that they would deliver to him the third part of the chattels according to the usages &c.; but they would not render, nor [as] yet would they, &c. Malm. [ Upon this case see additions and corrections. tionabilis." The ensuing are the passages in Glanville respecting the The "pars rareasonable part, that have given rise to the doubts, which our legal antiquaries have not yet been able to solve.-" Potest quilibet homo liber, majoribus debitis non involutus, de rebus suis in infirmitate suâ rationabilem devisam facere sub hâc formâ secundùm cujusdam patriæ consuetudinem: quòd dominum suum primò de meliore et principali herioth quam habet recognoscat: dein ecclesiam: postea verò alias personas pro voluntate suâ. Quicquid autem diversarum patriarum consuetudines super hoc teneant, secundùm jura regni, non tenetur quis in testamento suo alicui personæ precipuè nisi pro voluntate suâ aliquid relinquere: libera enim dicetur esse cujuscunque ultima voluntas secundùm has leges, sicut et secundùm alias leges." "Cum quis in infirmitate positus testamentum facere voluerit, si debitis non sit involutus, tunc omnes res ejus mobiles in tres partes dividentur æquales. Quarum una hæredi: secunda uxori: tertia verò ipsi reservatur: de quâ tertiâ liberam habebit disponendi facultatem: verùm si sine uxore decesserit, medietas ipsi reservatur.-Glanville, lib. 7, c. 5. The corresponding passages of Bracton are as follows:-" In primis autem debet quilibet qui testamentum fecerit, dominum suum de meliori re quam habuerit, recognoscere, et posteà ecclesiam de aliâ meliori. Et quibusdam locis habet ecclesia melius averium de consuetudine, vel secundum, vel tertium melius, in quibusdam nihil: et ideò consideranda est consuetudo loci." "Autem post debita deducta, et post deductionem expensarum quæ necessariæ erunt, ut prædictum est, [circa funus &c.] id totum quod tunc superfuerit, dividatur in tres partes; quarum una pars relinquatur pueris, si pueros habuerit defunctus; secunda uxori, si superstes fuerit: et de tertiâ parte habeat testator liberam disponendi facultatem. Si autem liberos non habeat, tunc medietas defuncto, et alia medietas uxori reservetur. Si autem sine uxore decesserit liberis existentibus, tunc medietas defuncto, et alia medietas liberis tribuatur. Si autem sine uxore et liberis, tunc id totum defuncto remanebit." "Et ea, quæ dicta sunt, locum habent et tenent, nisi sit consuetudo quòd se habeat in contrarium, sicut in civitatibus, burgis et villis."-Bracton, lib. 2, c. 26. See also Fleta, lib. 2, c. 57; also c. 62. Some notes of Lyndwood to a Constitution of Archbishop Stratford deserve consideration. Upon the words "consuetudinem patriæ," occurring in the passage "pro eâ portione [bonorum mobilium] quæ secundùm consuetudinem patriæ defunctos contingit," Lyndwood observes, "Non dicit regni:" et hoc ideo, quia per totum regnum forsan non est circa hoc una et eadem consuetudo, sed diversæ sunt consuetudines secundùm patriarum diversitates. Potest enim esse consuetudo generalis alicujus provinciæ; item specialis alicujus civitatis, territorii, vel loci." Upon the words "defunctos contingit," he has this note. Utputa, medietas bonorum, ubi superest uxor, et nulli liberi. Alioquin, si etiam supersint liberi, quòd tunc defuncti portio sit tertia pars, aliis duabus uxori et liberis remansuris. Sed quæro, si in unâ patriâ sit consuetudo, quòd bona dividantur in tres partes: in aliâ patriâ est consuetudo, quòd omnia devolvantur ad uxorem, vel aliàs ad liberos; si defunctus habuit bona in utrâque patriâ, quid fiet de bonis? Dic quòd bona debent distribui secundùm utramque consuetudinem, ut, viz., bona in uno loco dividantur in tres partes, bona verò in 66 alio loco distribuantur secundùm illius loci consuetudinem."Lyndwood, p. 172. defend trespass plaintiff en feoffed in trust for defendant. In writ of trespass, quare vi et armis clausum suum fregit, Attempt to &c., et arbores succidit, &c., et herbas conculcavit et con- by pleading sumpsit, &c. Catesby. You ought not to have an action: for we say [that] a long time before the supposed trespass, one J. B. was seised of certain land *** &c. [of which] the place where the trespass is supposed to have been made [is parcel] in his [demesne] as of fee: and being so seised of this same fee [the said J. B.] enfeoffed the plaintiff in fee, &c. to the use of the defendant, &c. in confidence: and then the defendant by sufferance of the plaintiff, and with his will occupied this land, and felled the trees upon this same land, and cut the grass: which is the same trespass for which the plaintiff has conceived this action. Genney. That is not a [good] plea: for this is not certain matter:-the sufferance of the plaintiff, and the defendant occupied with the will of the plaintiff:—for this cannot be tried:-such sufferance and will:-for the intent of a man is not certain: and it behoves a man to plead such matter, as can be, or is, known to the jury, if the issue be taken upon it. And this cannot be-upon this sufferance or will of the plaintiff that the defendant occupied, &c.: and therefore in such case to make a good issue or matter traversable, is to plead the lease made by the plaintiff to the defendant to hold at will, which is traversable and can be tried. Catesby. Wherefore shall he not have this matter [by way of plea?] when this ensues by reason that the defendant [that J. B.] enfeoffed the plaintiff to the use of the defendant, and so the plaintiff, in reason, is in this land [is seised of this land] only to the use of the defendant: and the defendant [J. B.] made the feoffment to the plaintiff in trust and confidence and the plaintiff suffered the defendant to occupy the land so that in reason the defendant occupied at his will: this proves that the defendant then shall have the advantage to plead this feoffment in trust, to justify the Executor not selling land devised to him to sell for tes tator's soul, the heir recovers such land by assize. occupation of the land for this cause, &c. Moile [J. C. P.] It is good matter to be [pleaded] in the Chancery; for the defendant there shall have the intent and purpose of such feoffment for by [the law of] conscience, of this, in the Chancery, a man shall have remedy according to the intent of such feoffment: but here by the course of common law in the Common Bench or King's Bench it is otherwise for the feoffee shall have the land: and the feoffor counter to his own feoffment shall not justify, whether the feoffment was in confidence, or the contrary. Catesby. The law of Chancery is the common law of the land and therefore the defendant shall have the advantage of such matter and feoffment: wherefore then shall it not be after the same manner here, &c.? Moile. That cannot be here in this Court, as I have told you: for the common law of the land in this case varies from the law of Chancery. Catesby passed on, and as to the trees he pleaded, &c. * * *.-Year Book, 4 Ed. 4, 8. An assize of novel disseisin was formerly brought against one A., who pleaded to the assize. And it was found by verdict, that the ancestor of the plaintiff devised the land to sell by the defendant, who was his executor, and to make distribution of the money for his soul: and it was found that the lands were devisable [by custom]: and it was found that now after the death of the testator, a man tendered to him [the executor] a certain sum of money for the land, but not for the value: and that he had then held the land in his own hand for two years, in the intention to sell the land more dear to some other: but it was found that he had all the time taken the profits of the land to his own use, without doing any thing for the soul of the deceased. Mowbray [J. C. P.] The executor in this case is holden by the law to cause it to be sold as soon as he shall be able after the death of the testator: and it is found that he refuses to cause it to be sold and so in this he is in default: and likewise by force of the devise he was holden to have put all the profits accruing from |