Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/48

 DESCKM DESERTER and takes ]>r >f a collateral heir ; thus to the brother or sister. . >f t he half blood are relieved from disability t<> inherit, and succeed next after rel the same degree of the whole blood. 8. Several provisions are made for the determi- D of the question who was the purchaser lioin I iy the rules of common law the to l.e traceil. The person last en- titled mod a purchaser, unless it be shown that he took by inheritance, and so of any preceding ancestor. In the case of a devise by a man to his heir, such heir shall be deemed < taken by the devise and not by descent, and is to be regarded as a purchaser. When land is purchased under a limitation to the heirs of a particular ancestor, such ancestor is deemed the purchaser. From this summary of the Eng- li>h lav of descent, which gives only the gen- eral rules without noticing certain exceptions which are said to exist by ancient usage in some places, it is apparent that the basis of the system was a condition of society no longer existing. The theory of seeking for a single male heir to the e.cln-ion of all others belongs to the turbulent period when a military head of a family was needed, and all the other members .f the family found shelter in a common man- sion, under the protection of an organized do- mestic force. The perpetuation of the rule, in a period of private immunity from violence, can serve no other purpose than to keep to- gether the estates of great land proprietors. This may !.,- essential for maintaining the re- spectability of the titles of nobility, but is in- applicable to all other proprietors ; and more- m-or. personal property, which was compara- thely unnoticed by the feudal law, but which oino a large portion of the wealth of th- kingdom, is distributed by another rule, conforming to the equitable principle of the civil law. The retention of this part of the old feudal law is therefore mainly attributable prejudice in favor of ancient usage which has always been characteristic of the .The law of descent in the United States is bused upon the English statute (22 and 23 Charles II.) for the distribution of the personal estates of intestates, which statute is substantially in conformity with the civil law. In most of the states real and personal estate ascend by the same rule, with the exception >nly of the interest of the husband and wife ho former of whom may have an estate by curteay, and the latter in dower (See CI-KTKSY. ;u ,d DOWER.) The rule of de- m-nt in the state of New York, which may taken as the law of most of the other '" lin.-al descendants of the ate, an equal portion to all who are of Consanguinity, whether male ut mtlu. MM of the decease of I/one ul th,m. th,n his or her defendants
 * -tion that would have belon-ed to

^dparty if living; thus, should the intestate U*T two children and three grand- children, descendants of a deceased child, the estate will be divided into three parts, the three grandchildren taking the one third which would have belonged to the parent whom they represent. 2. Upon the failure of lineal de- scendants, the father of the intestate will inherit, unless the estate came by descent on the part of the mother. 3. If the father is not living, or cannot for the reason above mentioned take the estate, the mother will be entitled to hold it for life, the reversion to belong to the broth- ers and sisters. 4. If no lineal descendants or father or mother, then the estate will descend to the nearest collateral relatives of equal de- gree ; and the same rule applies as in the case of lineal descendants, that the descendants of a deceased party take the same share that such ancestor would have been entitled to if living. The rules as to collateral succession are as follows : (a.) Brothers and sisters, or the children of deceased brothers and sisters, are first entitled ; but in case no brother or sister is living, but there are descendants of several, then such descendants take equally per capita, and not per stirpes or representation, as would be the case if one of the brothers or sisters were living. (5.) If no brothers or sisters of the intes- tate nor descendants of deceased brothers or sis- ters, the next heirs are uncles and aunts, who take equally unless the estate came by descent on the part of one parent, in which case the relatives of that parent have the preference. Lineal and collateral relatives of the half blood take equally with those of the whole blood. In some of the states the brothers and sisters take to the exclusion of the parents, while in others the rules are still more liberal toward the parents than as above stated. The rules of succession by the French civil code are nearly the same as those prevailing in this conn- try. The variations are principally these : 1. If there are father and mother (or either of them) and brothers and sisters, the estate is divided into two parts, one of which belongs to the father and mother in equal proportion, the other to the brothers and sisters or descen- dants of a deceased brother and sister, such de- scendants taking by representation the share that the child whom they represent would have taken ; if either father or mother is deceased, his or her share vests in the brothers and sis- ters. 2. If there is a father or mother, but no brothers or sisters, the collateral relatives take a half. 3. If there are children of diiferent fa- ther or mother, the estate is dvvided into two parts, the paternal line taking one part and the maternal the other ; children of the whole blood take a share in each moiety. DESERTER, in military affairs, an officer, sol- dier, or sailor who abandons the public service in the army or navy, without leave. In Eng- land the punishment for desertion is, with cer- tain limitations, left to the discretion of courts martial, death being the extreme penalty. By the articles for the government of the navy of the United States (art. 12), it is enacted that