Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/229

 Ch. 14. and no other pre-eminence; and as the eldet daughter had afterwards the principal maniion, when the etate decended in coparcenary. The Greeks, the Romans, the Britons, the Saxons, and even originally the feudits, divided the lands equally; ome among all the children at large, ome among the males only. This is certainly the mot obvious and natural way; and has the appearance, at leat in the opinion of younger brothers, of the greatet impartiality and jutice. But when the emperors began to create honorary feuds, or titles of nobility, it was found neceary (in order to preerve their dignity) to make them impartible, or (as they tiled them) feuda individua, and in conequence decendible to the eldet on alone. This example was farther enforced by the inconveniences that attended the plitting of etates; namely, the diviion of the military ervices, the multitude of infant tenants incapable of performing any duty, the conequential weakening of the trength of the kingdom, and the inducing younger ons to take up with the buines and idlenes of a country life, intead of being erviceable to themelves and the public, by engaging in mercantile, in military, in civil, or in eccleiatical employments. Thee reaons occaioned an almot total change in the method of feodal inheritances abroad; o that the eldet male began univerally to ucceed to the whole of the lands in all military tenures: and in this condition the feodal contitution was etablihed in England by William the conqueror.

we find, that ocage etates frequently decended to all the ons equally, o lately as when Glanvil wrote, in the reign of Henry the econd; and it is mentioned in the mirror as a part of our antient contitution, that knights' fees hould decend to the eldet on, and ocage fees hould be partible among the male children. However in Henry the third's time we find by Bracton that ocage lands, in imitation of lands in chivalry, had Rh