[176] It is thus as literally set down in the Translation of the Regiam Majestatem.—“I claim sic Land, as are part and pertinents of that Land named by my umquhill Husband for my Dourie, quherewith he indowed me at the kirk dore, the samine day when he married me, wherein he was vest and saised at the time he indowed me therewith.” (L. 2. c. 16.)
[177] He may, according to the Regiam Majestatem, be distrained, or attached by Pledges. (L. 2. c. 16.)
[178] Feodum. This word, which has frequently occurred in our progress through Glanville, has given the name to a system. The reader has no doubt perused Mr. Justice Blackstone’s account of it, (2 Comm. 44.) and the luminous Annotation which Mr. Butler has subjoined to Co. Litt. (Note to 199. a.) It may not be amiss briefly to mention the leading divisions of Feuds, as the Reader in the course of these pages will find some of these divisions mentioned, and others alluded to. 1. In proprium et Improprium. 2. In francum et non francum. 3. In masculinum et femininum. 4. In reale et personale. 5. In laicum et ecclesiasticum. 6. In antiquum et novum. 7. In nobile et ignobile. 8. In ligium et non ligium. 9. In simplex et conditionatum. 10. In divisibile et Indivisibile. (Craig de Jur. Feud. sparsim.)
[179] Namely, says Dr. Milles’s MS. Hugh Bardolph.
[180] For, as the Regiam Majestatem adds, “the king’s writ is of no force, unless the warrantor be summoned.” (L. 2. c. 16.) The Bodleian, Harleian, and Cottonian MSS. add, that the woman is not bound to answer, without her warrantor.
[181] The Dower being assigned, says Bracton, it shall, in every sense of the word, be enjoyed freely; and the wife shall not be compelled to contribute any portion of it, towards discharging the Debts of her Husband, which entirely devolve upon the Heir. The Heir shall warrant and defend the Dower, and perform the judicial services that may be due in respect of it, to the County, the Hundred, or the Lord’s Court; whilst the widow, exempt from every other care, devotes her attention solely to the management of her domestic affairs, and to the education of her children.—She shall, however, have her own court. (fo. 98. a.) So effectually were the convenience, the interest, the dignity, of the widow attended to when Bracton wrote!!
[182] An Assignment of Dower carries with it an obligation of warranty under the modern French code. (Code Napoleon, 1547. 1564.)
[183] Vide F.N.B. 329.
[184] Vide Bracton 97. a. where the doctrines of the text are corroborated, and the additional improvements laid down.
[185] Yet, from the form of the writ, book 12. c. 20. as given by our author, we may collect, that the Land assigned to the Widow, as her Dower, was to have a messuage upon it, unless, as the Writ says, land had been, in the first place, specifically nominated, on which there was no messuage. This inference is corroborated by Bracton. (97. b.) It was certainly a qualification of the severity of the Rule, which would turn the Widow out of that House she might possibly long have occupied with her Husband as its mistress. The Widow had further advantages under the 7th chap. of Mag. Car. These different regulations in favor of the Widow, tended to restore the common Law as it stood in the Reign of Canute. Ubi Maritus habitavit absque lite et absque controversia, habitent uxor et infans ubique absque lite. (LL. Canuti, 70. Ed. Wilkins.)