XXI. AN ESTATE BY STATUTE STAPLE is alfo obtained 4 Inft. 238. Wood 141. by execution on a bond of record acknowledged, pursuant to 27 Edw. 3. c. 9. by virtue of which the obligee may poffefs himself of the lands of his debtor, until the amount of the bond be paid. XXII. ESTATES IN ANCIENT DEMESNE, are certain ma- 1 Com. Dig. nors which were the ancient demefnes of THE CROWN, and 346. therefore not subject to the feodal system of tenure. estate : 143. 164. Wood's Inft. XXIII. AN ESTATE IN REMAINDER, is the refidue of Co. Lit. 49. an estate in land depending on a particular eftate, and cre- 2B). Com ated together with the fame. A particular estate is that which is derived from or out of a general or greater as if a man, who is feised in fee-fimple, grant his estate to another for life, or let it for term of years, with remainder over to a third perfon in fee, or for life, or in tail. 147. Skin. 341. XXIV. AN ESTATE IN REVERSION, is the refidue of an estate left in the grantor to commence in poffeffion after the determination of fome particular eftate granted out by Co. Lit. 22, him. Thus if a man make a gift in tail, and the donee die without issue, the reverfion of the fee is, without any special reservation, vested in the donee by act of law and fo alfo the reverfion, after an eftate for life, for years, or at will, continues in the LANDLORD or leffor, after the TENANT'S eftate is determined or expired. CHAPTER THE THIRD. The Law of Defcents. D ESCENT, or hereditary fucceffion, is the title Co. Lit. 18. whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his eftate by right of reprefentation as his heir at law: AN HEIR therefore is he upon whom the law cafts the eftate immediately on the death of the ancestor; and an eftate fo defcending to the heir, is called THE INHERITANCE. The doctrine of difcents or law of inheritances in fee-fimple, is a point of the highest importance, and depends on the nature of kindred, and the feveral degrees of confanguinity, which is defined to be " the con"nection or relation of perfons defcended from the fame ❝ftock or common anceftor." This confanguinity, or defcent, 2 Bl.Com. 201. Co. Lit. ro. Vent. 415. Wood's Inft. 211. The first canon of inheritance. Lit. 63. Bracton b. 2. Fleta b. 6. 1. f. 14. The fecond canon of inheritance. defcent, is either lineal or collateral. Lineal confanguinity is a descent downwards in a right line, as from grandfather to father, and grandfon. Collateral is a defcent which fpringeth out of the fide of the whole blood, as grandfather's brother, father's brother, &c. The following are the rules or canons of inheritance according to which estates are tranfmitted from THE ANCESTOR to THE HEIR. ft. "Inheritances fhall lineally defcend to the iflue of the "perfon laft actually feifed in infinitum, but fhall never "lineally afcend." Therefore if there be grand-father, father, and fon, and the father purchase land and die, his fon fhall fucceed him as heir, and not the grand-father, to whom the land fhall never afcend, but fhall rather efcheat to the lord. So alfo if the fon purchase land and die without iffue, his father cannot inherit, but it must descend to the heirs on the part of the father, viz. the father's brother. But though the uncle is preferred before the father in defcent from the fon, yet if the uncle enter after the death of the fon, and die without iffue, the father shall inherit to the uncle. 2d. "The male iffue fhall be admitted before the female." Thus if a man hath two fons and two daughters, and die, his eldest fon fhall firft inherit, and if he die without iffue, then his fecond fon fhall inherit in preference to the two 2 Bl. Com. 213. daughters: thus also if A. has issue two fons, B. and C; Hale's Hif. C. L. 235. The third canon of inheritance. 238. and B. has iffue a fon and daughter, D. and E; and D. the fon has iffue a daughter F; and E. the daughter has iffue a fon, G; neither C. nor any of his defcendants shall inherit fo long as there are any defcendants from D. and E; neither fhall E. the daughter, nor any of her descendants inherit so long as there are any defcendants from D. the fon, whether they be male or female. 3d. "Where there are two or more males in equal degree, the eldest only fhall inherit, but the females altoHale's Hif. C.L. "gether." Thus if a man hath two fons and two daughters, the eldest son fhall alone fucceed in exclufion of the fecond fon and both the daughters; but if both the fons die without iffue before the father, the daughters fhall inherit the eftate as coparceners. Co. Lit. 13. a Glanvil, b. 13. ch. 3. The fourth canon of inhe- C. L. 236, 237. 2 Bl. Com. 217. 4th." The lineal defcendants in infinitum of any perfon "deceafed fhall reprefent their ancestors; that is, fhall "ftand in the fame place as the perfon himself would have done had he been living." Thus the child, grand-child, or great grand-child, either male or female, of the eldest fon, fon, fucceeds before the younger fon, and so in infinitums and these representatives fhall take neither more nor lefs, but juft fo much as their principals would have done: therefore if a man has two daughters, and the eldest die in the father's life, leaving fix daughters, and then the father dies, his younger daughter fhall have an equal share with her fix nieces; and so through all the degrees of succession by right of representation, the right of proximity is transferred from the root to the branches, and gives them the fame preference as the next and neareft of blood. 5. "On failure of lineal defcendants, or iffue of the per"fon laft feifed, the inheritance fhall defcend to the blood "of the first purchaser, fubje&t to the three preceding "rules." The firft purchafer is he who firft acquired the eftate to his family, whether the fame was transferred to him by fale, or by gift, or by any other method, except only that of defcent. Thus if A. purchafe land, and it defcend to B. his fon, and B. die feised thereof without iffue, whoever fucceeds to this inheritance must be of the blood of A. the first purchaser of this family. Thus, alfo if a fon purchase land, and die without iffue, it fhall defcend to the heirs of the part of the father; and if he have none, then to the heirs of the part of the mother (a). But if the father purchase lands, and they defcend to the fon, who dies without iffue, and without any heir on the part of the father, it shall not descend in the line of the mother, but escheat. If there be none of the blood of the grand-father, yet it may refort to the blood of the grand-mother, her blood being as well of the blood of the father, as the mother's confanguinity is of the blood of the fon. If the grand-father purchase lands, which defcend to the father, and from him to the fon, if the fon enter and die without iffue, his father's brothers or fifters, or their defcendants, or, for want of them, his great grand-father's brothers or fifters, or their defcendants, or, for want of them, any of the confanguinity of the great grand-father, or brothers or fifters of the grand-mother, or their descendants, may inherit; the confanguinity (and not his own offspring only) may (a) See 2 Bl. Com. 221, 222, 229. That all lands granted in fee fimple, are at this day held as a feud of indefinite antiquity, and are inheritable as if they had defcended from fome uncertain indefinite ancestor, and therefore any of the collateral kindred of the real modern' purchaser,bility. of The fifth c of inheritar Co. Lit. 12. 2 Bl. Com. of the great grand-mother being the confanguinity of the father. But none of the line of the mother or grand-mother, viz. the grand-father's wife, fhall inherit; for they are not of the blood of the first purchafer. NOTE. The fame rule holds in purchases in the line of the mother or grand-mother; they fhall always keep in the fame line that the first purchaser fettled them in. But it is not necessary that he who inherits be always heir to the purchaser; it is fufficient if he be of his blood, and heir to him that was last feifed; for if the father purchased lands which defcended to the fon, who dies without iffue, they fhall never defcend to the heir of the part of the fon's mother; but if the fon's grand-mother has a brother, and the fon's great grandmother has a brother, and there are no other kindred, they fhall defcend to the grand-mother's brother; and yet if the father had died without iffue, his grand-mother's brother should have been preferred before his mother's brother, becaufe the former was heir on the part of his father, though a female, and the latter was only heir on the part of his mother. But where the fon is once feised, and dies without iffue, his grand-mother's brother is to him heir of the 2 Bl. Com. 221, part of his father, and being nearer than his great grandmother's brother, is preferred in the descent. But this is always intended fo long as the line of descent is not broken; for if the fon alien thofe lands, and then purchase them again in fee, then the rules of defcent are to be observed, as if he was the original purchaser, and as if it had been in the line of the father or mother. Hale's Hif Com. Law, 217, 229. Co. Lit. 12. 222. The fixth canon of inheritance. 6th." The collateral heir of the perfon last seised muft "be his next collateral kinfman of the whole blood;" that 2 Bl. Com. 224. is, on failure of iffue of the perfon last seised, the inheritance fhall defcend to the iffue of a next immediate ancestor. And, ift. He must be his next collateral kinfman, either perfonally or jure reprefentationis. 2dly. He must be the neareft, kinfman of the whole blood; for if there be a much nearer kinsman of the half blood, a distant kinsman of the whole blood fhall be admitted, and the other entirely excluded (a). A kinfman of the whole blood is he that is derived not only from the fame anceftor, but from the fame couple of ancestors; for as every man's own blood is compounded of the blood of his refpective ancestors, he only is properly of the whole or entire blood of another, who hath (fo far as the diftance of degrees will permit) all the fame ingredients in the compofition of his blood that (a) See the arguments in cafe of Newman v. Newman, 3 Wilf. 516. the cent." 2. 38. Hale's Co. Law 243. 2 Bl. Com. 223. the other hath. Thus if a fon purchase land in fee fimple, and die without iffue, thofe of the male line afcending to infinity hall be preferred in the descent according to their proximity of degree to the fon, as the fathers, brothers and fifters, and their defcendants, fhall be preferred before the brothers of the grand-father and their descendants. If the father has no brothers nor fifters, the grandfather's brothers and their descendants take the eftate. For Year Book, want of brothers, his fifters and their descendants fhall be 12 Edw. 4. pl. 14. preferred before the brothers of the great grand-father; for Fitzherbert's although the father or grand-father cannot immediately in- Abr. " Def herit to the fon, yet the direction of the defcent to the col- Broke's Abr. lateral afcending line is as much as if the father or grandfather had been by law inheritable; and therefore as in cafe the father had been inheritable, and should have inherited to the fon before the grand-father, and the grand-father before the great grand-father, and confequently if the father had inherited and died without iffue, his eldest brother and his defcendants would have inherited before the younger brother and his defcendants; and if he had no brothers, the fifters and their defcendants would have inherited before his uncles, or the grandfather's brothers and their defcendants: fo, though the father is excluded from inheriting, yet the defcent is directed as it would have been had the father inherited, viz. it lets in those first that are in the next degree to him. Thus if lands defcend to the eldest fon from the father, and the fon enter and die without iffue, his fifter of the whole blood fhall inherit as heir to the brother, and not the younger fon of the half blood; but if the eldest son had survived the father, and died before entry, the youngest fon would inherit as heir to the father, and not the fifter, because he is heir to the person who was laft actually feised. I Sid. 193. 1 Lev. 60. 12 Mod. 619. ritance. 7th. "In collateral inheritances the male stocks fhall The feventh "be preferred to the female (that is kindred derived from canon of inhe "the blood of the male ancestors fhall be admitted before Lit. § 4. "those from the blood of the female) unlefs where the 2 BI Com. 234. "lands have, in fact, defcended from a female"-Thus: Ift. The line of the part of the mother shall never inherit fo long as there are any, tho' never fo remote, of the line of the part of the father; as if the mother has a brother, yet if the great great great grand-father, or great great great grand-mother of the father has a brother or fifter, he or she fhall be preferred, and exclude the mo ther's |