38 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [x. 



X. 



NORMAN LAW OF SUCCESSION. 



WHATEVER may have been the general law of the 

 country on the subject of succession to land in Saxon 

 times, the rule that the eldest son should succeed to 

 land held by military service, had speedily been 

 settled after the Norman Conquest. 



During at least the first century after the Conquest, 

 feudalism in England was a reality. The vassal 

 followed his lord in war. The relation between 

 the two was so intimate, that it could not be dis- 

 solved without the consent of both. It originated in 

 the act of homage, constituting a contract, by which 

 the one expressly became the man of the other, of 

 "life and limb and worldly honour;" and which 

 carried with it an implied obligation, on the part of 

 the lord, to protect his man. Hence the vassal could 

 not alienate the land, which was the reward and 

 ictainer for his personal services, and enabled him 

 to perform them, without his lord's approval. 



The vassal might, however, make a sub-infeuda- 



