Feudalism. 141 



the lands should revert to the donor until a fresh military 

 tenant was forthcoming. He who possessed the chief claim 

 on the reversion, provided that he could perform the service, 

 was the deceased's son, and, if he had more than one, the 

 eldest was by his superior age and strength in nine cases out of 

 ten the best qualified. These circumstances gave rise to the 

 custom, not law, of primogeniture (for, save in the case of in- 

 testacy, there has never been a law on the subject). 



When, therefore, the successor was a minor he was not 

 eligible for military service, and pending his majority he and 

 his fief remained in "Ward" of his master — not a bad arrange- 

 ment in troublous times for either party concerned. But in 

 order to shorten as far as possible this interval during which 

 the reversionary interest had lapsed back to the lord, it was a 

 further incentive for the vassal to bequeath the estates to his 

 firstborn male. 



Where the successor was of age it would seem that there 

 could be no interval between the death of the late owner and 

 the former's entry ; but, for all that, the lord reserved a title 

 to possession which brought in, for the sovereign, the incident 

 of Primer Seisin, for the subject, that of Relief. These were 

 theoretically a present, practically an obligatory charge, for 

 the renovation of the fief. In early days of feudalism it was 

 a gift of armour, and corresponded to the Danish custom of the 

 heriot, which was also a donation of warlike accoutrements on 

 a similar occasion. When the incident of non-entry was pro- 

 longed over a year and a day the fief was forfeited. 



If a military policy is so far obvious it is even more so when 

 we come to speak of the incident of marriage. No lord could 

 brook the presence of an enemy in his midst, and such an un- 

 toward circumstance might at any time occur by the marriage 

 of a vassal without consent. A female of a hostile barony was 

 bad enough, but a male would be unbearable ; hence the fine 

 inflicted in the case of a female's marriage without consent far 

 exceeded that in the similar case of a male. 



For a like reason the lord's sanction was very essential in 

 the transfer of lands to a fresh vassal. Whenever this occurred 

 there arose the Fine of Alienation, an incident which induced 



