It is alſo enacted, by the ſtatute 11 & 12 W. III. c. 6. that all perſons, being natural-born ſubjects of the king, may inherit and make their titles by deſcent from any of their anceſtors lineal or collateral; although their father, or mother, or other anceſtor, by, from, through, or under whom they derive their pedigrees, were born out of the king's allegiance. But inconveniences were afterwards apprehended, in caſe perſons ſhould thereby gain a future capacity to inherit, who did not exiſt at the death of the perſon laſt ſeiſed. As, if Francis the elder brother of John Stiles be an alien, and Oliver the younger be a natural-born ſubject, upon John's death without iſſue his lands will deſcend to Oliver the younger brother: now, if afterwards Francis hath a child, it was feared that, under the ſtatute of king William, this newborn child might defeat the eſtate of his uncle Oliver. Wherefore it is provided, by the ſtatute 25 Geo. II. c. 39. that no right of inheritance ſhall accrue by virtue of the former ſtatute to any perſons whatſoever, unleſs they are in being and capable to take as heirs at the death of the perſon laſt ſeiſed: — with an exception however to the caſe, where lands ſhall deſcend to the daughter of an alien; which daughter ſhall reſign ſuch inheritance to her after-born brother, or divide it with her after-born ſiſters, according to the uſual rule[1] of deſcents by the common law.
7. By attainder alſo, for treaſon or other felony, the blood of the perſon attainted is ſo corrupted, as to be rendered no longer inheritable.
Great care muſt be taken to diſtinguiſh between forfeiture of lands to the king, and this ſpecies of eſcheat to the lord; which, by reaſon of their ſimilitude in ſome circumſtances, and becauſe the crown is very frequently the immediate lord of the fee and therefore entitled to both, have been often confounded together. Forfeiture of lands, and of whatever elſe the offender poſſeſſed, was the doctrine of the old Saxon law[2], as a part of
