in ſuch general grants, whether this feud ſhall be held ut feudum paternum, or feudum avitum, but ut feudum antiquum merely, as a feud of indefinite antiquity; that is, ſince it is not aſcertained from which of the anceſtors of the grantee this feud ſhall be ſuppoſed to have deſcended; the law will not aſcertain it, but will ſuppoſe any of his anceſtors, pro re nata, to have been the firſt purchaſor: and therefore it admits any of his collateral kindred (who have the other neceſſary requiſites) to the inheritance, becauſe every collateral kinſman muſt be deſcended from ſome one of his lineal anceſtors.
Of this nature are all the grants of fee-ſimple eſtates of this kingdom; for there is now in the law of England no ſuch thing as a grant of a feudum novum, to be held ut novum; unleſs in the caſe of a fee-tail, and there we fee that this rule is ſtrictly obſerved, and none but the lineal deſcendants of the firſt donee (or purchaſor) are admitted: but every grant of lands in fee-ſimple is with us a feudum novum to be held ut antiquum, as a feud whoſe antiquity is indefinite; and therefore the collateral kindred of the grantee, or deſcendants from any of his lineal anceſtors, by whom the lands might have poſſibly been purchaſed, are capable of being called to the inheritance.
Yet, when an eſtate hath really deſcended in a courſe of inheritance to the perſon laſt ſeiſed, the ſtrict rule of the feodal law is ſtill obſerved; and none are admitted, but the heirs of thoſe through whom the inheritance hath paſſed: for all others have demonſtrably none of the blood of the firſt purchaſor in them, and therefore ſhall never ſucceed. As, if lands come to John Stiles by deſcent from his mother Lucy Baker, no relation of his father (as ſuch) ſhall ever be his heir of theſe lands; and, vice verſa, if they deſcended from his father Geoffrey Stiles, no relation of his mother (as ſuch) ſhall ever be admitted thereto; for his father's kindred have none of his mother's blood, nor have his mother's relations any ſhare of his father's blood. And ſo, if the eſtate deſcended from his father's father, George Stiles;
