THE LAW AND CUSTOM OF PRIMOGENITURE 363 



or misadventure. A man, perhaps, makes several contradictory 

 wills, all of which prove to be void for want of proper attes- 

 tation or by reason of his incompetence ; or he makes a good 

 will that does not cover the whole of his property ; or, having 

 recently purchased a small freehold, he is just about to devise 

 it, when he is suddenly cut off. The known wishes of an 

 intestate may be carried into effect by arrangement within the 

 family or an amicable suit in equity, without the public be- 

 coming aware of the fact, especially if those wishes should 

 coincide with the course of descent at common law. Several 

 notable examples of the contrary kind, where the known wishes 

 of the intestate and the plain requirements of justice were griev- 

 ously violated by the law of primogeniture, have been cited by 

 Mr. Locke King and others. Upon the whole, however, our pre- 

 sumption must be that, whatever may be the indirect influence of 

 that law on the minds of settlors and testators, its direct influence 

 in promoting the aggregation of land is by no means extensive. 

 We have next to examine the mode whereby the right of 

 primogeniture is secured in ordinary settlements of landed 

 property, or, less frequently, in the wills of landed proprietors 

 who have enjoyed an absolute power of disposition. This mode 

 is thus explained in the standard work of Mr. Josh'ua Williams, 

 on the Law of Real Property : 



In families where the estates are kept up from one generation to another, 

 settlements are made every few years for this purpose ; thus, in the event of a 

 marriage, a life-estate merely is given to the husband ; the wife has an allow- 

 ance for pin-money during the marriage, and a rent-charge or annuity by way 

 of jointure for her life, in case she should survive her husband. Subject to this 

 jointure, and to the payment of such sums as may be agreed on for the por- 

 tions of the daughters and younger sons of the marriage, the eldest son who 

 may be born of the marriage is made by the settlement tenant-in-tail. In 

 case of his decease without issue, it is provided that the second son, and then 

 the third, should in like manner be tenant-in-tail ; and so on to the others ; 

 and in default of sons, the estate is usually given to the daughters ; not suc- 

 cessively, however, but as " tenants in common in tail," with " cross remainders " 

 in tail. By this means the estate is tied up till some tenant-in-tail attains the 

 age of twenty-one years ; when he is able, with the consent of his father, who 

 is tenant for life, to bar the entail with all the remainders. Dominion is thus 

 again acquired over the property, which dominion is usually exercised in a 



