Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/68

 56 hores, arms, money, and the like, for uch renewal of the feud: which was called a relief, becaue it re-etablihed the inheritance, or, in the words of the feodal writers, "incertam et caducam hereditatem relevabat." This relief was afterwards, when feuds became abolutely hereditary, continued on the death of the tenant, though the original foundation of it had ceaed.

in proces of time feuds came by degrees to be univerally extended, beyond the life of the firt vaal, to his ons, or perhaps to uch one of them, as the lord hould name; and in this cae the form of the donation was trictly oberved: for if a feud was given to a man and his ons, all his ons ucceeded him in equal portions; and as they died off, their hares reverted to the lord, and did not decend to their children, or even to their urviving brothers, as not being pecified in the donation. But when uch a feud was given to a man, and his heirs, in general terms, then a more extended rule of ucceion took place; and when a feudatory died, his male decendants in infinitum were admitted to the ucceion. When any uch decendant, who thus had ucceeded, died, his male decendants were alo admitted in the firt place; and, in defect of them, uch of his male collateral kindred as were of the blood or lineage of the firt feudatory, but no others. For this was an unalterable maxim in feodal ucceion, that "none was capable of inheriting a feud, but uch as was of the blood of, that is, lineally decended from, the firt feudatory ." And the decent, being thus confined to males, originally extended to all the males alike; all the ons, without any ditinction of primogeniture, ucceeding to equal portions of the father's feud. But this being found upon many accounts inconvenient, (particularly, by dividing the ervices, and thereby weakening the trength of the feodal union) and honorary feuds (or titles of nobility) being now introduced, which were not of a diviible nature, but could only be inherited by the eldet on ; in imitation of thee, military feuds (or thoe we are now decribing) began alo in mot countries to decend ac- Rh