horſes, arms, money, and the like, for ſuch renewal of the feud: which was called a relief, becauſe it re-eſtabliſhed the inheritance, or, in the words of the feodal writers, "incertam et caducam hereditatem relevabat." This relief was afterwards, when feuds became abſolutely hereditary, continued on the death of the tenant, though the original foundation of it had ceaſed.
For in proceſs of time feuds came by degrees to be univerſally extended, beyond the life of the firſt vaſal, to his ſons, or perhaps to ſuch one of them, as the lord ſhould name; and in this caſe the form of the donation was ſtrictly obſerved: for if a feud was given to a man and his ſons, all his ſons ſucceeded him in equal portions; and as they died off, their ſhares reverted to the lord, and did not deſcend to their children, or even to their ſurviving brothers, as not being ſpecified in the donation[1]. But when ſuch a feud was given to a man, and his heirs, in general terms, then a more extended rule of ſucceſſion took place; and when a feudatory died, his male deſcendants in infinitum were admitted to the ſucceſſion. When any ſuch deſcendant, who thus had ſucceeded, died, his male deſcendants were alſo admitted in the firſt place; and, in defect of them, ſuch of his male collateral kindred as were of the blood or lineage of the firſt feudatory, but no others. For this was an unalterable maxim in feodal ſucceſſion, that "none was capable of inheriting a feud, but ſuch as was of the blood of, that is, lineally deſcended from, the firſt feudatory[2]." And the deſcent, being thus confined to males, originally extended to all the males alike; all the ſons, without any diſtinction of primogeniture, ſucceeding to equal portions of the father's feud. But this being found upon many accounts inconvenient, (particularly, by dividing the ſervices, and thereby weakening the ſtrength of the feodal union) and honorary feuds (or titles of nobility) being now introduced, which were not of a diviſible nature, but could only be inherited by the eldeſt ſon[3]; in imitation of theſe, military feuds (or thoſe we are now deſcribing) began alſo in moſt countries to deſcend ac-
