contains a comment by the Judge (Saham) to the
effect that if, after battle joined, at the second or third assault the
tenant acknowledge the tenement to be the right of the demandant, and
for that acknowledgment the demandant grant to the tenant that he shall
hold of him for life, and that afterwards the tenement shall revert to
him (the demandant), that acknowledgment is as stable as if a fine were
levied in a writ of warranty of charter.
In Hil., 29 Edward III., a writ of right was brought by the Bishop of
Salisbury against the Earl of Salisbury for the Castle of Salisbury.
Battle was waged; but on the accoutrements of the champions being
examined by the Justices, a further day was assigned on the ground that
the coat of the Bishop's champion had been found to contain several
rolls of prayers and charms. In this instance no battle took place, as a
compromise was arranged, whereby the Bishop was to pay the Earl 1,500
marks, and judgment was given for the Bishop on the Earl making default.
With regard to charms, it may be remarked that there is copied on the
fly-leaf of a MS. volume of reports, _temp._ Edward I. and II., in a
contemporary hand, a charm comprising a list of the names of God, to be
recited only in special cases, one of which was "par doute de plai." We
may add that ecclesiastics not unfrequently retained a champion not for
one occasion, but permanently, and he was in receipt of regular pay.
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