Adventure Starters from Medieval Law
by John Leland
It occurred to me that English medieval legal proceedings, which I spent much of my research time on, could be the basis of adventures. The usual pattern in these cases was that an aggrieved party would obtain a royal writ, and some of the royal officers -- usually either fighters or clerics in our world, but in a world with serious magic I presume mages would also be used -- would be ordered to enforce the writ.
1. Writ of oyer and terminer. The most basic example: A crime has been committed (often murder). A group of royal officials are ordered to find the guilty party and do justice -- usually capture, try, and if applicable execute him/her. One common variant: The crime in question is poaching in the royal forest; the criminals might turn out to be Robin Hood archer/ranger types instead of real villains. Moral dilemma: Would the commission bring the outlaws in anyway, let them go, or perhaps even join them?
2. Writ of novel disseisin. The holder of land (usually a manor) has been 'disseised' -- his land taken by someone else. The royal officers are to eject the person who has taken the land and reinstall the former holder. Variant: Sometimes the person who has unlawfully seized the land is actually the true heir who has been deprived of the land previously and is trying to get it back. However, under the writ the officers have no discretion -- they must reinstate the unworthy tenant. The other party may bring a writ of right.
3. Writ of right. The royal officers are to determine the true lawful owner of disputed property, defined as the lawful heir or assign of the earliest known holder of the property. This may be done by empanelling a jury, or arranging trial by battle.
4. Writ of darrein presentment. A cleric has died or been transferred, and a commission has been appointed to find who last presented to that benefice and give that person or institution (it might be, say, an abbey) the right to appoint the next holder of the vacant benefice. Again, this might not be finding the true lawful presenter, who could be determined by writ of right as above.
(Originally appeared in Re:Quests!, issue #35, October 1994, p. 22; Mary H Kelly, editor.)
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