Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/243

 r. SCRUTTON: ROMAN LAW INFLUENCE 229 But this clause is omitted, not only, as Coote observes, in the Charter of 1225, but also, which he does not notice, in the reissues of the Charter in 1216, and 1217. He suggests that the omission is due to the hostility of the barons, but, if so, it is curious that the Articles which the Barons them- selves put forward in 1215 should run,^ "/Si aliquis liber homo intestatus decesserit, bona sua per manum proximo- rum parentum suorum et amicorum, et per visum ecclesiae, distribuantur; " ^ unless this was a concession to the church by the barons to secure its cooperation in the coming struggle. The clergy were anxious to obtain control of intestacy that they might devote a share of the intestate's estate to pious purposes; the lords preferred to confiscate the property. The clergy protested " Item mortuo laico intestato, dominus rex et caeteri domini feudorum bona defuncti sibi applicantes non permittunt de ipsis debita solvi, nee residuum in usus liberorum et priximorum suorum et alios pios usus per loci ordinarium cujus interest, aliqua con- verti; "^ thus the lords neither paid the debts, nor recog- nized the pious uses. The statute of Westminster charged the payment of the debts of the intestate on that third of the property which the Ordinary destined to pious uses, instead of, as in previous practice, on the rationabiles partes of the widow and children.* A statute of 1357 ^ commanded the Ordinaries to appoint " de plus proscheins et plus amis de mort intestat, pur administrer ses biens . . . et recoverer come executoures les dettes dues au dit mort . . . et soient accountables aux ordinairs si avant come executioures sont en cas de testament.^' The Ordinary thus appointed one of the next of kin as administrator to distribute the effects in such proportions as the church following the system of the civil law should direct, and the Act also gave power to bring actions concerning the intestacy in the King's Courts, as vrell as in the Courts of the Ordinary, thus making the system more secure. » Article 16. Ibid. p. 283. 'Gravamina and Articles of 1257, § 25. Coote, p. 39. •Coote, pp. 44-47, (a. d. 1285). •31 Edw. III. c. 11. Coote, p. 58.
 * Note, that the clause as to payment of just debts is omitted.