ſame probability of that ſtanding requiſite in the law, that he be derived from the blood of the firſt purchaſor.
To illuſtrate this by example. Let there be John Stiles, and Francis, brothers by the ſame father and mother, and another ſon of the ſame mother by Lewis Gay a ſecond huſband. Now, if John dies ſeiſed of lands, but it is uncertain whether they deſcended to him from his father or mother; in this caſe his brother Francis, of the whole blood, is qualified to be his heir; for he is ſure to be in the line of deſcent from the firſt purchaſor, whether it were the line of the father or the mother. But if Francis ſhould die before John, without iſſue, the mother's ſon by Lewis Gay (or brother of the half blood) is utterly incapable of being heir; for he cannot prove his deſcent from the firſt purchaſor, who is unknown, nor has he that fair probability which the law admits as preſumptive evidence, ſince he is to the full as likely not to be deſcended from the line of the firſt purchaſor, as to be deſcended: and therefore the inheritance ſhall go to the neareſt relation poſſeſſed of this preſumptive proof, the whole blood.
And, as this is the caſe in feudis antiquis, where there really did once exiſt a purchaſing anceſtor, who is forgotten; it is alſo the caſe in feudis novis held ut antiquis, where the purchaſing anceſtor is merely ideal, and never exiſted but only in fiction of law. Of this nature are all grants of lands in fee-ſimple at this day, which are inheritable as if they deſcended from ſome uncertain indefinite anceſtor, and therefore any of the collateral kindred of the real modern purchaſor (and not his own offspring only) may inherit them, provided they be of the whole blood; for all ſuch are, in judgment of law, likely enough to be derived from this indefinite anceſtor: but thoſe of the half blood are excluded, for want of the ſame probability. Nor ſhould this be thought hard, that a brother of the purchaſor, though only of the half blood, muſt thus be diſinherited, and a more remote relation of the whole blood admitted, merely upon a ſuppoſition and
