fear nor through force. Let money or service play no
part, lest it fall into the category of purchase and sale, for if
money is involved there will then be a sale, and if service, the
remuneration for it. If a gift is to be valid the donor must be of
full age, for if a minor makes a gift it will be ineffective since
(if he so wishes) it shall be returned to him in its entirety when
he reaches full age. Also let the donor hold in his own name and
not another's, otherwise his gift may be revoked. And let him, at
the least, be of sound mind and good memory, though an invalid,
ill and on his death bed, for a gift make under such conditions
will be good if all the other [requirements] of a valid gift are
met. For no one, provided he is of good memory, ought to be kept
from the administration or disposition of his own property when
affected by infirmity, since it is only then that he must make
provision for his family, his household and relations, given
stipends and settle his bequests; otherwise such persons might
suffer damage without fault. But since charters are sometimes
fraudulently drawn and gifts falsely taken to be made when they
are not, recourse must therefore be had to the country and the
neighborhood so that the truth may be declared."

In Bracton's view, a villein could buy his own freedom and the
child of a mixed marriage was free unless he was born in the
tenement of his villein parent.

- Judicial Procedure -

The Royal Court split up into several courts with different
specialties and became more like departments of state than offices
of the King's household. The justices were career civil servants
knowledgeable in the civil and canon law. The Court of the King's
Bench (a marble slab in Westminster upon which the throne was
placed) traveled with the king and heard criminal cases and pleas
of the Crown. Any use of force, however trivial, was interpreted
as breach of the royal peace and could be brought before the
king's bench. Its records were the coram rege rolls. The title of
the Chief Justiciar of England changed to the Chief Justice of
England. The Court of Common Pleas heard civil cases brought by
one subject against another. Pursuant to the Magna Carta, it sat
only at one place, the Great Hall in Westminster. It had
concurrent jurisdiction with the King's Bench over trespass cases.
Its records were the de banco rolls. The Court of the Exchequer
with its subsidiary depart