The Birth of the Lmid Laws. 1 79 



reign, where, in instances where there were two or more fiefs, 

 the eldest son had only the " primum patris feudum." 

 Though in the case of military fiefs it may be said to have 

 received its deathblow in Henry II. 's reign, the eldest son did 

 not become the heir ab intestato of soccage fiefs until long after. 

 Only as the distinction between soldier and socman faded 

 away ; as military fiefs became converted into civil ones ; as 

 their lords saw better and easier chances of obtaining the rents 

 from one individual than from many ; and as the soccage ten- 

 ants perceived that subdivision of the succession would pre- 

 vent their families competing in splendour with those of their 

 neighbours, the military tenants, did the old custom of all the 

 sons succeeding in capite finally breathe its last. In such 

 violent times it is not to be expected that the right of repre- 

 sentation was much looked after or observed. The infant 

 orphan seldom succeeded his grandsire if he had an uncle alive, 

 though on his uncle's decease he would have preference over 

 his cousins. In fact, succession often depended upon the 

 qualifications of the rightful heir. If he were incapable from 

 infirmity or age, some other relation better qualified to perform 

 military services became the successor. If, too, an eldest son 

 was in possession of a fief elsewhere, he was often excluded 

 from his deceased father's fief, possibly because he could not 

 well guard over or perform military service for both. This 

 was not a Norman innovation, for instances are forthcoming 

 at a period of English History earlier than feudalism. Thus 

 Edrid, succeeding his brother Edmond I., usurped the English 

 crown to the exclusion of his nephews, Edwy and Edgar, the 

 infant sons of the former, and Edwy succeeded his uncle to the 

 exclusion of his uncle's sons. Thus also William Rufus, the 

 second son, succeeded to his father's throne of England, be- 

 cause his elder brother was already provided for by the Duchy 

 of Normandy. 



Progress can be also reported in the methods of conveying 

 land, always a difficulty to half-educated nations. The savage, 

 who cannot receive actual possession of any property, has to be 

 educated by symbols into the sensation of possessing it. ^ He 



^ Compare Blackstone's distinction between corporeal and incorporeal 



