made
within three years of the disseisin.

An example of a writ of novel disseisin is: The king to the
sheriff, greeting. N has complained to me that R unjustly and
without a judgment has disseised him of his free tenement in
[Houndsditch] since my last voyage to Normandy. Therefore I
command you that, if N gives you security for prosecuting his
claim, you are to see that the chattels which were taken from the
tenement are restored to it, and that the tenement and the
chattels remain in peace until Sunday after Easter. And meanwhile
you are to see that the tenement is viewed by twelve free and
lawful men of the neighborhood, and their names endorsed on this
writ. And summon them by good summoners to be before me or my
justices on the Sunday after Easter, ready to make the
recognition. And summon R. or his bailiff if he himself cannot be
found, on the security of gage and reliable securities to be there
then to hear the recognition. And have there the summoners, and
this writ and the names of the sureties. Witness etc.

Then an assize panel of recognition summoned concurrently with the
defendant and before he had pleaded, viewed the land in question
and answered, from their knowledge, these questions of fact: 1)
Was the plaintiff disseised of the freehold in question, unjustly
and without judgment? 2) Did the defendant commit the disseisin?
Testimony of a warrantor (or an attorney sent by him in his place)
or a charter of warranty served to prove seisin by gift, sale, or
exchange. No pleadings were necessary and the action could proceed
and judgment given even without the presence of the defendant. The
justices amerced the losing party with a monetary penalty. A
successful plaintiff might be awarded damages to compensate for
the loss of revenue.

There was also a writ for issues of inheritance of land called
"mort d'ancestor". By law the tenure of a person who died seised
of a tenure in a lord's demesne which was hereditary [seisin of
fee] returned to the lord, who had to give it to the heir of the
decedent. If the lord refused and kept it for himself or gave it
to someone else, the heir could sue in the Royal Court, which used
an similar assize panel of twelve men to decide whether the
ancestor was seised as of fee in his demesne, if the plaintiff was
the nearest heir, and whether the ancestor had died, gone on a
crusade but not returned, or had become a monk. Then it could give
possession to the heir. Since abou