The questions submitted to the jury were, "was A seised in his demesne as of fee on the day whereon he died?"
[2] According to the Assize of Northampton, the lord must not prevent the heir having seisin forthwith on the ancestor's death, making this almost the final step in the development of common law heritability:[3] "4.
[6] Like the other petty assizes, the new writ was immediately popular, being quicker, cheaper and simpler than feudal justice;[7] and like them too it gradually developed from a preliminary to a final action, while the range of relations who could claim heritage was also widened (in the 13th century) from close to far.
[9] Ranulf de Glanvill's Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England give several examples of mort d'ancestor writs, which were issued to a sheriff as a command from the king.
[12] From the surviving records of the lawsuit the land in dispute seems to have been a substantial wooded area in Maynooth.