eal in the two
former cases; but an indictment is a fortiori; and he says, sect. 194,
that an indictment, though not an appeal, lies against the lord for
maiming his villein.

[401] Gurdon, on Courts Baron, p. 592, supposes the villein in gross to
have been the Lazzus or Servus of early times, a domestic serf, and of
an inferior species to the cultivator, or villein regardant. Unluckily
Bracton and Littleton do not confirm this notion, which would be
convenient enough; for in Domesday Book there is a marked distinction
between the Servi and Villani. Blackstone expresses himself inaccurately
when he says the villein in gross was annexed to the person of the lord,
and transferable by deed from one owner to another. By this means indeed
a villein regardant would become a villein in gross, but all villeins
were alike liable to be sold by their owners. Littleton, sect. 181.
Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. iii. p. 860. Mr. Hargrave supposes that
villeins in gross were never numerous (Case of Somerset, Howell's State
Trials, vol. xx. p. 42): drawing this inference from the few cases
relative to them that occur in the Year-books. And certainly the form of
a writ de nativitate probanda, and the peculiar evidence it required,
which may be found in Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, or in Mr. H.'s
argument, are only applicable to the other species. It is a doubtful
point whether a freeman could, in contemplation of law, become a villein
in gross; though his confession in a court of record, upon a suit
already commenced (for this was requisite), would estop him from
claiming his liberty; and hence Bracton speaks of this proceeding as a
mode by which a freeman might fall into servitude.

[402] [Note XIV.]

[403] Bracton, 1. ii. c. 8; 1. iv. c. 28; Littleton, sect. 172.

[404] Glanvil, 1. iv. c. 5.

[405] Dugdale's Warwickshire, apud Eden's State of the Poor, vol. i. p.
13. A passage in another local history rather seems to indicate that
some kind of delinquency was usually alleged, and some ceremony
employed, before the lord entered on the villein's land. In Gissing
manor, 39 E. III., the jury present, that W. G., a villein by blood, was
a rebel and ungrateful toward his lord, for which all his tenements were
seized. His offence was the having said that the lord kept four stolen
sheep in his field. Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. i. p. 114.

[406] Gurdon on Courts Baron, p. 574.

[407] Brooke's Abridgm. Tenant par copie, 1. By the extent-r