the firſt feudatory or purchaſor. In conſequence whereof, if a vaſal died poſſeſſed of a feud of his own acquiring, or feudum novum, it could not deſcend to any but his own offspring; no, not even to his brother, becauſe he was not deſcended, nor derived his blood, from the firſt acquirer. But if it was feudum antiquum, that is, one deſcended to the vaſal from his anceſtors, then his brother, or ſuch other collateral relation as was deſcended and derived his blood from the firſt feudatory, might ſucceed to ſuch inheritance. To this purpoſe ſpeaks the following rule; "frater fratri ſine legitimo haerede defuncto, in beneficio quod eorum patris fuit, ſuccedat: ſin autem unus e fratribus a domino feudum acceperit, eo defuncto ſine legitimo haerede, frater ejus in feudum non ſuccedit[1]." The true feodal reaſon for which rule was this; that what was given to a man, for his perſonal ſervice and perſonal merit, ought not to deſcend to any but the heirs of his perſon. And therefore, as in eſtates-tail, (which a proper feud very much reſembled) ſo in the feodal donation, "nomen haeredis, in prima inveſtitura expreſſum, tantum ad deſcendentes ex corpore primi vaſalli extenditur; et non ad collaterales, niſi ex corpore primi vaſalli ſive ſtipitis deſcendant[2]:" the will of the donor, or original lord, (when feuds were turned from life eſtates into inheritances) not being to make them abſolutely hereditary, like the Roman allodium, but hereditary only ſub modo; not hereditary to the collateral relations, or lineal anceſtors, or huſband, or wife of the feudatory, but to the iſſue deſcended from his body only.
However, in proceſs of time, when the feodal rigour was in part abated, a method was invented to let in the collateral relations of the grantee to the inheritance, by granting him a feudum novum to hold ut feudum antiquum; that is, with all the qualities annexed of a feud derived from his anceſtors; and then the collateral relations were admitted to ſucceed even in infinitum, becauſe they might have been of the blood of, that is deſcended from, the firſt imaginary purchaſor. For ſince it is not aſcertained
