Note 516 — Book XIV.

Lord Coke, in two instances, cites the present chapter of Glanville as one of the authorities on which he founds his assertion, that previously to the Great Charter a woman, as well as a man, might have had an appeal of the death of any of her Ancestors. (Co. Litt. 25. b. and 2 Inst. 68.) It is impossible to conceive how Glanville corroborates this bold position. He is a very strong authority for the contrary doctrine, and excludes expressly in this chapter and by relation in the first chapter of the present Book, a woman’s right of appeal in every instance, except that of the death of her Husband, and that of a personal injury. Bracton also in the most decided language confines a woman’s right of appeal to these two instances. (fo. 125, and 148.) Great as Lord Coke is, his deductions and citations from the more ancient writers are not by any means implicitly to be relied upon. His name has thrown a lustre over many an error. Nothing would be more easy than to adduce innumerable instances in support of the truth of this assertion.