the Norman juriſts, who ſtiled the firſt purchaſor (that is, he who firſt brought the eſtate into the family which at preſent owns it) the conqueror or conquereur[1]. Which ſeems to be all that was meant by the appellation which was given to William the Norman, when his manner of aſcending the throne of England was, in his own and his ſucceſſors' charters, and by the hiſtorians of the times, entitled conquaeſtus, and himſelf conquaeſtor or conquiſitor[2]; ſignifying, that he was the firſt of his family who acquired the crown of England, and from whom therefore all future claims by deſcent muſt be derived: though now, from our diſuſe of the feodal ſenſe of the word, together with the reflexion on his forcible method of acquiſition, we are apt to annex the idea of victory to this name of conqueſt or conquiſition; a title which, however juſt with regard to the crown, the conqueror never pretended with regard to the realm of England; nor, in fact, ever had[3].
The difference in effect, between the acquiſition of an eſtate by deſcent and by purchaſe, conſiſts principally in theſe two points: 1. That by purchaſe the eſtate acquires a new inheritable quality, and is deſcendible to the owner's blood in general, and not the blood only of ſome particular anceſtor. For, when a man takes an eſtate by purchaſe, he takes it not ut feudum paternum or maternum, which would deſcend only to the heirs by the father's or the mother's ſide: but he takes it ut feudum antiquum, as a feud of indefinite antiquity; whereby it becomes inheritable to his heirs general, firſt of the paternal, and then of the maternal line[4]. 2. An eſtate taken by purchaſe will not make the heir anſwerable for the acts of the anceſtor, as an eſtate by deſcent will. For, if the anceſtor by any deed, obligation, covenant, or the like, bindeth himſelf and his heirs, and dieth; this deed, obligation, or covenant, ſhall be binding upon the heir, ſo far forth only as he had any eſtate of inheritance veſted in him (or in ſome other in truſt for him[5]) by deſcent from that
