[4] Drawing on the sophisticated models offered by canon law, the king subsequently created the private (and purchasable) writ of novel disseisin, which enabled individuals to take disputed possession cases to the royal courts.
Rather than dealing with the issue of lawful possession, it simply asked whether dispossession had taken place, in which case the property was restored to the plaintiff, and the question of true ownership was dealt with later.
[8] Ranulf de Glanvill's Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England gives examples of novel disseisin writs, which were issued to a sheriff as a command from the king.
The general structure was: The date for the defendant to appear in court was rigorously enforced, in contrast to other processes that allowed excused absences (essoins).
[9] With the passage of time, legalistic means of obstructing its working were devised, and, under bastard feudalism, the suborning of the juries that were the new assize's great strength also multiplied.