earlieſt witneſſes of his deceaſe. They became therefore generally the next immediate occupants, till at length in proceſs of time this frequent uſage ripened into general law. And therefore alſo in the earlieſt ages, on failure of children, a man's ſervants born under his roof were allowed to be his heirs; being immediately on the ſpot when he died. For we find the old patriarch Abraham expreſſly declaring, that "ſince God had given him no ſeed, his ſteward Eliezer, one born in his houſe, was his heir[1]."
While property continued only for life, teſtaments were uſeleſs and unknown; and, when it became inheritable, the inheritance was long indefeaſible, and the children or heirs at law were incapable of excluſion by will. Till at length it was found, that ſo ſtrict a rule of inheritance made heirs diſobedient and head-ſtrong, defrauded creditors of their juſt debts, and prevented many provident fathers from dividing or charging their eſtates as the exigence of their families required. This introduced pretty generally the right of diſpoſing one's property, or a part of it, by teſtament; that is, by written or oral inſtructions properly witneſſed and authenticated, according to the pleaſure of the deceaſed; which we therefore emphatically ſtile his will. This was eſtabliſhed in ſome countries much later than in others. With us in England, till modern times, a man could only diſpoſe of one third of his moveables from his wife and children: and, in general, no will was permitted of lands till the reign of Henry the eighth; and then only of a certain portion: for it was not till after the reſtoration that the power of deviſing real property became ſo univerſal as at preſent.
Wills therefore and teſtaments, rights of inheritance and ſucceſſions, are all of them creatures of the civil or municipal laws, and accordingly are in all reſpects regulated by them; every diſtinct country having different ceremonies and requiſites to make a teſtament completely valid: neither does any thing vary more than the right of inheritance under different national eſtabliſh-
- ↑ Gen. 15. 3.
