Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/202

 190 are in their nature impartible. The manion-houe, common of etovers, common of picary uncertain, or any other common without tint, hall not be divided; but the eldet iter, if he pleaes, hall have them, and make the others a reaonable atifaction in other parts of the inheritance; or, if that cannot be, then they hall have the profits of the thing by turns, in the ame manner as they take advowon.

is yet another conideration attending the etate in coparcenary; that if one of the daughters has had an etate given with her in frankmarriage by her ancetor (which we may remember was a pecies of etates-tail, freely given by a relation for advancement of his kinwoman in marriage ) in this cae, if lands decend from the ame ancetor to her and her iters in fee-imple, he or her heirs hall have no hare of them, unles they will agree to divide the lands o given in frankmarriage in equal proportion with the ret of the lands decending. This general diviion was known in the law of the Lombards, which direct the woman o preferred in marriage, and claiming her hare of the inheritance, mittere in confuum cum ororibus, quantum pater aut frater et dederit, quando ambulaverit ad maritum. With us it is denominated bringing thoe lands into hotchpot ; which term I hall explain in the very words of Littleton : "it eemeth that this word, hotchpot, is in Englih, a pudding; for in a pudding is not commonly put one thing alone, but one thing with other things together." By this houewifely metaphor our ancetors meant to inform us, that the lands, both thoe given in frankmarriage and thoe decending in fee-imple, hould be mixed and blended together, and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters. But this was left to the choice of the donee in frankmarriage, and if he did not chue to put her lands in hotchpot, he was preumed to be ufficiently provi- Rh