Essoin

• An essoin de malo lecti, the "excuse of the bed of sickness", was an excuse that the person was too ill to get out of bed, and was generally only invoked in civil actions involving real property. This required that the invoker be observed in bed by a commission of four knights.
• An essoin de ultra mare, the "excuse of being overseas", was an excuse that the person was abroad. The only resultant delay to litigation permissible for this excuse was enough time for word to be sent to the person and for them to return to England, and the excuse could only be invoked once, at the start of litigation.
• An essoin de servicio regis, the "excuse of the King's service", was the excuse that the person concerned was in the King's service at the time and thus unavailable. It required the production of the King's writ of service for proof. By the Statute of Essoins 1318, women could not make this excuse.
• An essoin de malo veniendi, the "excuse of becoming ill en route", was the excuse that the person had fallen ill on the way to court. It originally required either some form of proof from the messenger who carried word that the person had fallen ill, or the sworn testimony of the person concerned that he had been ill once he finally arrived at court. However, during the 13th century these requirements gradually came to be waived, and even considered to be oppressive.