84 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [i. 



The present state of things is, therefore, even more 

 objectionable than that which existed under the 

 feudal law, when, as I have before mentioned, the 

 third part of the land, which the widow enjoyed for 

 her life, often must have afforded some support for 

 younger children, as well as for herself. 



It has often been pointed out as an excellence of 

 the Statute for the Distribution of Intestates' 

 Estates, that it makes for an intestate such a dis- 

 position of his personal property, as, in ordinary 

 cases, a reasonable man would make for himself. 

 Does it transcend the wisdom of Parliament to do 

 the like with regard to freehold property ? Why 

 should it not preserve the right of the eldest son to 

 take the land as heir to his father, and, at the same 

 time, charge the land with a sum of money to be 

 divisible, like the personal estate of the father, 

 between the widow and the younger children or 

 their issue ; the proportion of the amount so distri- 

 butable to the value of the land, varying according 

 to the number of claimants ? Such a law would 

 give the eldest son a fair opportunity of retaining 

 the land, without doing manifest injustice to other 

 members of the family. It would remove a palpable 

 grievance, with as little alteration as possible in the 

 existing law, while avoiding the risk of encountering 

 the evils which result from the constant subdivision 

 of land. 



