46 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [XL 



return, and before the thirteenth year of his reign, 

 when the statute De Donis was passed, he had subdued 

 Llewellyn, and permanently annexed North Wales 

 to the English Crown. Yet it was by this monarch 

 and at this time, according to the opinion I have 

 mentioned, that the statute De JJonis was passed at 

 the instance of the nobility, in order to depress the 

 power of the Crown; and we are asked to believe 

 that the King, a man of wide experience and un- 

 doubted sagacity, was outwitted or overawed by an 

 illiterate and disheartened body of barons. 



If we look at the preamble of the statute, and the 

 preamble of a statute is generally the best key to 

 the intention of its authors, we shall see it stated 

 that their object was to prevent what must, I think, 

 be admitted to have been a grievance. 



Suppose that a man, on the marriage of his 

 daughter, gave a portion of his land to her husband 

 and the heirs of his body by the wife. Then if the 

 wife had issue, the husband might as the law stood 

 before the statute was passed, alienate the land 

 leaving the issue unprovided for. 



If no alienation took place, the land on the death 

 of the donee would descend to the issue of the 

 marriage like an ordinary estate in fee simple. But, 

 if the donee died without leaving issue, or if, after 

 his decease, his issue failed, and the land had not 

 been alienated, the donor or his heir would have 

 the land again. 





