[Footnote 325: _Relief_—_quia hereditas, quæ jacens fuit per antecessoris decessum, relevatur in manus heredum et propter factam relevationem facienda erit ab herede quædam præstatio, quæ dicitur relevium._ (Vide Bracton 84. et Fleta l. 3. c. 17. s. 1.) Among the Laws of Edward the Confessor, there is a singular one, respecting the Relief of a Tenant who fell in battle. (LL. Edw. Conf. c. 35.) It must, however, be observed that Spelman questions that Law, and strongly contends, that Reliefs were not in use among the Saxons. (Reliq. p. 31.) The Reader will find that point controverted in the preface to Wilkins’s Anglo-Sax. LL. p. 9. The Reader, if desirous of extending his enquiries on Reliefs in general, may consult Bracton 84. et seq. Fleta L. 3. c. 17. Co. Litt. 76. a. 83. a. Black. Com. Sullivan, Craig, Spelman &c. &c. &c.] [Footnote 326: “Glanville,” observes Lord Coke, “saith, that Women shall not do Homage: but Littleton saith, that a Woman shall do Homage, but she shall not say, _Jeo devigne votre feme_, but _Jeo face à vous homage_; and so is Glanville to be understood, that she shall not do complete Homage.” (Co. Litt. 65. b.) Having cited this passage, a noble Historian observes “But I should rather think, that in Glanville’s time single women did none, and that the alteration in the form, which is mentioned by Littleton, was an expedient found afterwards to obviate the objection of an indecency in their Homage: as it was also in the case of Ecclesiastics.” (3 Litt. Hist. Hen. 2. p. 339.) _Skene_ gives a reason for the rule as laid down by _Glanville_: _because Homage especially concerns service in war_, (de verb. sign. ad voc. homagium.) He also remarks, that consecrated Bishops did no homage. The reason, says Cowell, may be all one. (Interpreter) But Craig (Jus Feud. 1. 11. 10.) and the Regiam Majestatem (L. 2. c. 60.) expressly coincide with our Author. Indeed, if any doubt could possibly exist, concerning the unconditional meaning of the passage in the text, it would be silenced by the latter part of the present chapter. Having made use of the expression _liber homo_, our author pointedly adds, _masculus_, as if solicitous to prevent any possible misconception, especially that very misconception Lord Coke seems to have fallen into, which is likewise refuted by a custom mentioned by Lord Littleton. “From the obligation laid on the Husband to do Homage for the wife, it naturally followed, that the Barony of a wife, as well as every other Fief requiring Homage, was in effect made over to the Husband; and, therefore, in those days many Barons came to Parliament in right of their wives, and by virtue of their marriage, were accounted Peers of the Realm. It has been observed, in this History, that the same notion extended to Dukedoms and Principalities in many parts of the Continent.” (Litt. Hen. 2. p. 339.)]