Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/228

 214 cially as it ubits among the cutoms of gavelkind, and as, in the charter or laws of king Henry the firt, it is not (like many Norman innovations) given up, but rather enforced. The true reaon of preferring the males mut be deduced from feodal principles: for, by the genuine and original policy of that contitution, no female could ever ucceed to a proper feud, inamuch as they were incapable of performing thoe military ervices, for the ake of which that ytem was etablihed. But our law does not extend to a total excluion of females, as the Salic law, and others, where feuds were mot trictly retained: it only potpones them to males; for, though daughters are excluded by ons, yet they ucceed before any collateral relations: our law, like that of the Saxon feudits before-mentioned, thus teering a middle coure, between the abolute rejection of females, and the putting them on a footing with males.

III. rule or canon of decent is this; that, where there are two or more males in equal degree, the eldet only hall inherit; but the females all together.

if a man hath two ons, Matthew and Gilbert, and two daughters, Margaret and Charlotte, and dies; Matthew his eldet on hall alone ucceed to his etate, in excluion of Gilbert the econd on and both the daughters: but, if both the ons die without iue before the father, the daughters Margaret and Charlotte hall both inherit the etate as coparceners.

right of primogeniture in males eems antiently to have only obtained among the Jews, in whoe contitution the eldet on had a double portion of the inheritance ; in the ame manner as with us, by the laws of king Henry the firt, the eldet on had the capital fee or principal feud of his father's poeions, Rh