CHAP. V.
Should the party, thus summoned, neither appear, nor essoin himself, on the day appointed, or if, after having cast three Essoins, he neither appear, nor send an Attorney, the course in such case to be pursued has been already pointed out, in that part of this Treatise which applies to Pleas, where the Pledges are to be attached, and in the [first Book]. Both parties being present in Court, if each of them should acknowledge the writing (containing the Concord made between them) or if the Concord is stated to be such by the King’s Justices before whom it was made, and this be properly testified by their Record, then the Party who has broken the Concord shall be amerced to the King, and shall be safely attached, until he find good security that he will from thenceforth keep the Concord, by adhering to its terms, if possible, or will otherwise make his Adversary a reasonable recompense. For, it is a consequence which naturally results from acknowledging a fact in the King’s Court in the presence of the King or his Justices, or undertaking to do any particular Act, that the Party should be compelled to abide by or perform it. If, however, such a Concord be made in a suit concerning Land, then, the party convicted in Court, or confessing that he had not properly observed the Fine, if a Tenant, shall thereby lose his Land, but, if a Demandant, his Suit. But if the parties, either the one or the other of them, deny the Common Chirograph, then, the same Justices shall be summoned to appear on a day appointed to them in Court, and there record, how the suit came to an end which was before them in the King’s Court, between such and such parties, of so much Land, in that Vill, which the one claimed against the other; and, if the parties, by the license of the Justices and in their presence, came to an agreement, under what form the Concord was made. But here a distinction must be taken, whether such Concord was made in the King’s chief Court, or before the Justices Itinerant.
In the latter case, such Justices must be summoned to appear in Court, with certain discreet Knights, of the County where the Concord in question was made, who were present when it was entered into, and know the truth of the fact; in order that such Justices may make a Record of the Suit, with the assistance of the Knights, who are to be called to Court for that purpose, from the whole body of the County, by the following Writ——