x.] DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND. 39 



tion of part, at least, of his land, and the sub-vassal 

 did not become the vassal of the superior lord ; he 

 did homage not to the superior lord, but to the vassal, 

 by whom the land was granted to him. It was a 

 maxim of feudal law, " vassallus mei vassalli non cst 

 mcus vassallus." 



As the vassal could not transfer his land to 

 another, without his lord's consent, so neither could 

 the lord transfer his vassal's services to another, 

 without the consent of the vassal. 



It is not surprising that, when the relation between 

 lord and vassal was thus strictly regulated, the right 

 of giving lands by will, which was certainly per- 

 mitted, as regards some freehold lands, by Saxon 

 law, should have been lost with respect to land held 

 by knight service. The vassal could not be per- 

 mitted to replace his own services by those of 

 a stranger, who might, possibly, be a personal enemy 

 of the lord : and the reciprocal attachment of lord and 

 vassal would also tend to give the descendants of the 

 vassal an incontestable title to succession. 



These considerations do not entirely explain the 

 fact that, if the vassal left several sons, he was suc- 

 ceeded by the eldest alone. 



That primogeniture was not a necessary conse- 

 quence of feudalism, we find from one of the earliest 

 treatises on feudal law, the first of the Libri fev do- 

 rum (Titles I. and VIII.) generally annexed to the 

 Corpus Juris Civilis, which expressly provides that, 



