Law Courts 147
more people turned out of their land except on the basis
of judgment regularly rendered in court. This new
process was known as the assize of novel disseisin. Old
disseisins could not well be taken account of; they must
be within easy memory. Arbitrary dates were fixed
from time to time, all disseisins before which were not
considered novel. The assize of novel disseisin was a pos-
sessory assize, which means that it dealt only with the
question of possession, not with the question of best
right. This was the first of the three famous possessory
assizes made by Henry,x In the document known as the
Assize of Northampton,2 1176, is found the first mention
of the assize of mart d? ancestor (death of the ancestor),
This assize was to protect heirs, to prevent violent and un-
lawful confiscations by overlords or others upon the death
of a property holder. The principle contained is this: if
a man died possessed of real estate and some one claimed
that he had had a better right to the property than the
dead man, he could not prevent the latter's heir from tak-
ing possession until he had received a judgment in his
favour by regular legal process. The question of fact,
whether the ancestor died possessed of the property, was
answered by the statement under oath of twelve men of
the locality. The third possessory assize had to do with
the presentation of clergymen to livings. Such presenta-
tion was known as advowson. If a question arose as to
which of two persons possessed the advowson of a certain
church, twelve men of the locality were summoned and
put on oath to tell who presented to this church last, and
he who had done so was given the privilege of presenting
this time. But the claim might be made that, although
he did present the last time, he had had no right to. In
that case, remedy might be sought in the king's court
also; but the determination of a question of best right was
1 Detailed study of the judicial history of the century following the Con-
quest, both in England and Normandy, shows foreshadowings of jthis and
the other possessory assizes; yet Henry's share in their making is shown
to have been a commanding one.
a A. and S., document 16, article 4