he must be the nearest kinsman of the whole blood; for, if there be a much nearer kinsman of the half blood, a distant kinsman of the whole blood shall be admitted, and the other entirely excluded.

A kinsman of the whole blood is he that is derived, not only from the same ancestor, but from the same couple of ancestors. For, as every man's own blood is compounded of the blood of his respective ancestors, he only is properly of the whole or entire blood with another, who hath (so far as the distance of degrees will permit) all the same ingredients in the composition of his blood that the other hath. Thus, the blood of John Stiles being composed of those of Geoffrey Stiles his father and Lucy Baker his mother, therefore his brother Francis being descended from both the same parents, hath entirely the same blood with John Stiles; or he is his brother of the whole blood. But if, after the death of Geoffrey, Lucy Baker the mother marries a second husband, Lewis Gay, and hath issue by him; the blood of this issue, being compounded of the blood of Lucy Baker (it is true) on the one part, but that of Lewis Gay (instead of Geoffrey Stiles) on the other part, it hath therefore only half the same ingredients with that of John Stiles, so that he is only his brother of the half blood, and for that reason they shall never inherit to each other.

According to our law, as it now stands, the crown (which is the highest inheritance in the nation) may descend to the half blood of the preceding sovereign, so that it be the blood of the

first monarch, purchaser, or (in the feudal language) conqueror of the reigning family. Thus it actually did descend from king Edward the sixth to queen Mary, and from her to queen Elizabeth, who were respectively of the half blood to each other. For the royal pedigree being always a matter of sufficient notoriety, there is no occasion to call in the aid of this presumptive rule of evidence, to render probable the descent from the royal stock, which was formerly king William the Norman, and is now (by act of parliament) the princess Sophia of Hanover. Hence also it is, that in estates-tail, where the pedigree from the first donee must be strictly proved, half blood is no impediment to the descent; because when the lineage is clearly made out, there is no need of this auxiliary proof.

VII. The seventh and last rule or canon is, that n collateral inheritances the male stock shall be preferred to the female; (that is, kindred derived from the blood of the male ancestors, however remote, shall be admitted before those of the blood of the female, however near,)—unless where the lands have, in fact, descended from a female.

Thus the relations on the father's side are admitted in infinitum, before those on the mother's side are admitted at all, and the relations of the father's father, before those of the father's mother; and so on. But whenever the lands have notoriously descended to a man from his mother's side, this rule is totally reversed: and no relation of his by the father's side, as such, can ever be admitted

to them because he cannot possibly be of the

blood of the first purchaser. And so, e converso, if the lands descended from the father's side, no relation of the mother, as such, shall ever inherit.

CHAPTER XV.

OF TITLE BY PURCHASE; AND FIRST BY
ESCHEAT.

PURCHASE, taken in its largest and most extensive sense, is thus defined by Littleton; the possession of lands and tenements, which a man hath by his own act or agreement, and not by descent from any of his ancestors or kindred. In this sense it is contradistinguished from acquisition by right of blood, and includes every other method of coming to an estate, but merely that by inheritance.

The difference in effect, between the acquisition of an estate by descent and by purchase, consists principally in these two points: 1. That by purchase the estate acquires a new inheritable quality, and is descendible to the owner's blood in general, and not the blood only of some particular ancestor. 2. An estate taken by purchase will not make the heir answerable for the acts of the ancestor, as an estate by descent will. For, if the ancestor by any deed, obligation, covenant, or the like, bindeth himself and his heirs, and dieth; this deed, obligation, or covenant, shall be binding upon the heir, so far forth only as he (or any other in trust

for him) had any estate of inheritance vested in him by descent from (or any estate pur auter vie coming to him by special occupancy, as heir to) that ancestor, sufficient to answer the charge; whether he remain in possession, or hath aliened it before action brought.

This legal signification of the word perquisitio, or purchase, includes the five following methods of acquiring a title to estates: 1. Escheat. 2. Occupancy. 3. Prescription. 4. Forfeiture. Alienation.

5.

I. Escheats, was one of the fruits and consequences of feudal tenure. The word itself denotes an obstruction of the course of descent, and a consequent determination of the tenure, by some unforeseen contingency; in which case the land naturally results back, by a kind of reversion, to the original grantor or lord of the fee.

The law of escheats is founded upon this single principle, that the blood of the person last seized in fee-simple is, by some means or other, utterly extinct and gone: and since none can inherit his estate but such as are of his blood and consanguinity, it follows as a regular consequence, that when such blood is extinct, the inheritance itself must fail; the land must become what the feudal writers denominate feudum apertum; and must result back again to the lord of the fee, by whom, or by those whose estate he hath, it was given.

1, 2, 3. The first three cases, wherein inheritable blood is wanting, may be collected from the rules of descent laid down and explained in the

preceding chapter, and therefore will need very little illustration or comment. First, when the tenant dies without any relations on the part of any of his ancestors: secondly, when he dies without any relations on the part of those ancestors from whom his estate descended: thirdly, when he dies without any relations of the whole blood.

4. A monster, which hath not the shape of mankind, but in any part evidently bears the resemblance of the brute creation, hath no inheritable blood, and cannot be heir to any land, albeit it be brought forth in marriage: but, although it hath deformity in any part of its body, yet if it hath a human shape it may be heir.

5. Illegitimate children are incapable of being heirs. Being the sons of nobody, they have no blood in them, at least no heritable blood; consequently, none of the blood of the first purchaser: and therefore, if there be no other claimant than such natural children, the land shall escheat to the lord.

As natural children cannot be heirs themselves, so neither can they have any heirs but those of their own bodies. For, as all collateral kindred consists in being derived from the same common ancestor, and as a natural child has no legal ancestors, he can have no collateral kindred; and consequently, can have no legal heirs, but such as claim by a lineal descent from himself. And therefore if an illegitimate child purchases land, tand dies seized thereof without issue, and intestate, he land shall escheat to the lord of the fee.