Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/230

 216 almot entirely fallen into the right of ucceion by primogeniture, as the law now tands: except in Kent, where they gloried in the preervation of their antient gavelkind tenure, of which a principal branch was the joint inheritance of all the ons ; and except in ome particular manors and townhips, where their local cutoms continued the decent, ometimes to all, ometimes to the younget on only, or in other more ingular methods of ucceion.

to the females, they are till left as they were by the antient law: for they were all equally incapable of performing any peronal ervice; and therefore, one main reaon of preferring the eldet ceaing, uch preference would have been injurious to the ret: and the other principal purpoe, the prevention of the too minute ubdiviion of etates, was left to be conidered and provided for by the lords, who had the dipoal of thee female heirees in marriage. However, the ucceion by primogeniture, even among females, took place as to the inheritance of the crown ; wherein the neceity of a ole and determinate ucceion is as great in the one ex as the other. And the right of ole ucceion, though not of primogeniture, was alo etablihed with repect to female dignities and titles of honour. For if a man holds an earldom to him and the heirs of his body, and dies, leaving only daughters; the eldet hall not of coure be countes, but the dignity is in upene or abeyance till the king hall declare his pleaure; for he, being the fountain of honour, may confer it on which of them he pleaes. In which dipoition is preerved a trong trace of the antient law of feuds, before their decent by primogeniture even among the males was etablihed; namely, that the lord might betow them on which of the ons he thought proper: — "progreum et, ut ad filios deveniret, in quem cilicet dominus hoc vellet beneficium confirmare ." Rh