Cases begun by writ of right [concerning a dispute over ownership of a borough tenement] proceed with 3 summonses and 3 distraints made at fortnightly intervals on the tenant. If the tenant still defaults in answering the suit, the tenement may be taken into the king's hand, but recovered if the tenant appears in court to initiate a defence and wage his law. After which he is allowed 3 essoins (at fortnightly intervals) and a day, after which he may have the disputed property inspected by a jury. After this view of the land, he shall again have 3 essoins. He may then present the argument that a third party will warrant his ownership, or he may proceed by a grand assize, whose jurors shall be selected by four trustworthy men acceptable to the parties. In the case of an inquest, the tenement shall be awarded to whomever this inquest decides has the better claim to it. In the case of a warrantor (if a foreigner with nothing in the city [by which he may be distrained], a writ must be obtained for summoning the warrantor to appear in the court of the itinerant Justices. The claimant may counterplead that he can prove the warrantor never had possession of the property; if the tenant dares not challenge this, then he must pursue another defence (i.e. the inquest). If the warrantor comes of his own accord and makes warrant of the tenant's right, but the claimant presents stronger evidence, then he may recover against both the warrantor and the tenant. If the tenant (through failure to defend or by inquest) loses the property to the claimant, he may seek to recover the value of the property from the warrantor. If the warrantor has property in the city, then he may be summoned by virtue of the original writ of right. To prevent delaying the claimant's recovery when an inquest is called, the inquest is not to be postponed except for allowing the tenant one essoin after his initial appearance.

[Compare this chapter with the Ipswich custom on the same subject. The warrantor referred to might be a landlord of whom the tenant held the property, or the previous owner who had given or sold the property to the tenant. As Hudson noted, the numerous steps in this judicial process, along with the essoins, could make a case drag on for some time. The clause "the tenement may be taken into the king's hand" does not appear in the Liber Consuetudinum and may be a later specification of something that was earlier taken for granted.]