he would have done without it, he ſhall be adjudged to take by deſcent[1], even though it be charged with incumbrances[2]; for the benefit of creditors, and others, who have demands on the eſtate of the anceſtor. If a remainder be limited to the heirs of Sempronius, here Sempronius himſelf takes nothing; but, if he dies during the continuance of the particular eſtate, his heirs ſhall take as purchaſors[3]. But, if an eſtate be made to A for life, remainder to his right heirs in fee, his heirs ſhall take by deſcent: for it is an antient rule of law, that wherever the anceſtor takes an eſtate for life, the heir cannot by the ſame conveyance take an eſtate in fee by purchaſe, but only by deſcent[4]. And, if A dies before entry, ſtill his heir ſhall take by deſcent, and not by purchaſe; for, where the heir takes any thing that might have veſted in the anceſtor, he takes by way of deſcent[5]. The anceſtor, during his life, beareth in himſelf all his heirs[6]; and therefore, when once he is or might have been ſeiſed of the land, the inheritance ſo limited to his heirs veſts in the anceſtor himſelf: and the word "heirs" in this caſe is not eſteemed a word of purchaſe, but a word of limitation, enuring ſo as to encreaſe the eſtate of the anceſtor from a tenancy for life to a fee-ſimple. And, had it been otherwiſe, had the heir (who is uncertain till the death of the anceſtor) been allowed to take as a purchaſor originally nominated in the deed, as muſt have been the caſe if the remainder had been expreſſly limited to Matthew or Thomas by name; then, in the times of ſtrict feodal tenure, the lord would have been defrauded by ſuch a limitation of the fruits of his ſigniory, ariſing from a deſcent to the heir.
What we call purchaſe, perquiſitio, the feudiſts call conqueſt, conquaeſtus, or conquiſitio[7]: both denoting any means of acquiring an eſtate out of the common courſe of inheritance. And this is ſtill the proper phraſe in the law of Scotland[8]; as it was among
