We muſt alſo remember, that no perſon can be properly ſuch an anceſtor, as that an inheritance in lands or tenements can be derived from him, unleſs he hath had actual ſeiſin of ſuch lands, either by his own entry, or by the poſſeſſion of his own or his anceſtor's leſſee for years, or by receiving rent from a leſſee of the freehold[1]: or unleſs he hath had what is equivalent to corporal ſeiſin in hereditaments that are incorporeal; ſuch as the receipt of rent, a preſentation to the church in caſe of an advowſon[2], and the like. But he ſhall not be accounted an anceſtor, who hath had only a bare right or title to enter or be otherwiſe ſeiſed. And therefore all the caſes, which will be mentioned in the preſent chapter, are upon the ſuppoſition that the deceaſed (whoſe inheritance is now claimed) was the laſt perſon actually ſeiſed thereof. For the law requires this notoriety of poſſeſſion, as evidence that the anceſtor had that property in himſelf, which is now to be tranſmitted to his heir. Which notoriety hath ſucceeded in the place of the antient feodal inveſtiture, whereby, while feuds were precarious, the vaſal on the deſcent of lands was formerly admitted in the lord's court (as is ſtill the practice in Scotland) and there received his ſeiſin, in the nature of a renewal of his anceſtors grant, in the preſence of the feodal peers: till at length, when the right of ſucceſſion became indefeaſible, an entry on any part of the lands within the county (which if diſputed was afterwards to be tried by thoſe peers) or other notorious poſſeſſion, was admitted as equivalent to the formal grant of ſeiſin, and made the tenant capable of tranſmitting his eſtate by deſcent. The ſeiſin therefore of any perſon, thus underſtood, makes him the root or ſtock, from which all future inheritance by right of blood muſt be derived: which is very briefly expreſſed in this maxim, ſeiſina facit ſtipitem[3].
