7.52 D E S 
branched out. As if a man hath two fons, who have 
each a numerous ilfue, both tliefe iii'uesare lineally del- 
cended from him as their common anceftor ; and they are 
collateral kinfmen to each other, becaufe they are all 
defcended from this common anceftor, and all have a 
portion of his blood in their veins, which denominates 
them confanguineas. The very being of collateral confan- 
guinity conlifts in this defeent, from one and the fame 
common anceftor. Thus A. and his brother are related ; 
Why ? Becaufe both are derived from one father. A. 
and his firft coufin are related ; Why > Becaufe both 
defcended from the fame grandfather; and his fecond 
coufins’ claim to confanguinity is this, that they are both 
derived from one and the fame great grandfather. In 
(hort, as manyanceftors as a man has, fo many common 
ftocks he has, from which collateral kinfmen may be de¬ 
rived. 
The method of computing tliefe degrees in the canon 
law, which our common law has adopted, (Co. Lilt. 23.) 
is as follows : We begin at the common anceftor, and 
reckon downwards ; and in whatfoever degree the two 
perfons,- or the molt remote of them, is diftant from the 
common anceftor, that is the degree in which they are 
related to each other. Thus A. and his brother are re¬ 
lated in the firft degree ; for, from the father to each of 
them, is counted only one : A. and his nephew are re¬ 
lated in the fecond degree; for the nephew is two degrees 
removed from the common anceftor, viz. his own grand¬ 
father, thefatherof A. The learned commentator, Black- 
ftone, has furniflied 11s with a feries of rules, or canons of 
inheritance, according to which, eftates are tranfmitted 
from the anceftor to the heir. 
The firft rule is, that inheritances ftiall lineally defeend 
to the ilfue of the perfon who l ift died actually feifed, in 
infinitum ; but (hall never lineally afeend. By law, no in¬ 
heritance can veft, nor can any perfon be the adtual com¬ 
plete heir of another, till the anceftor is previoufty dead. 
Nemo eji hares viventis. Before that time, the perfon who 
is next in the line of fucceftion is called an heir apparent, 
or heir prefumptive. Heirs apparent are fuch, whole 
right of inheritance is indefeafible, provided they outlive 
the anceftor, as the eldeft foil or his ilfue, who mud, by 
the courfeof the common law, be heir to the father when¬ 
ever he happens to die. Heirs prefumptive are fuch, 
who, if the anceftor fliould die immediately, would, in 
the prefent circumftances of things, be his heirs, but 
whole right of inheritance may be defeated by the con¬ 
tingency of fome nearer heir being born : as a brother or 
nephew, whofe prefumptive fuccefiion may be deftroyed 
by the birth of a child ; or, a daughter, whofe prefent 
hopes may hereafter be cut oft' by the birth of a fon. 
Nay, even if the eftate hath defcended, by the death of 
the owner, to fuch brother, or nephew, or daughter; 
in the former cafes, the eftate ftiall be devefted and taken 
away by the birth of a pofthumous child; and, in the 
latter, it (hall alfo be totally devefted by the birth of a 
pofthumous foil. And, belides this cafe of a pofthumous 
child, if lands are given to a fon who dies, leaving a 
filler his heir, if the parents have, at any diftance of time 
afterwards, another fon, this fon (hall deveft the defeent 
upon the filter, and take the eftate as heir to his brother. 
Co. Lift. 111. So the fame eftate may be frequently de¬ 
vefted by the fubfequent birth of nearer prefumptive 
heirs, before it fixes upon an heir apparent. As if an 
eftate is given to an only child, who dies, it may defeend 
to an aunt, who may be (tripped of it by an after-born 
uncle, on whom a fubfequent lifter may enter, and who 
will again be deprived of the eftate by the birth of a bro¬ 
ther, the heir apparent. It feems, however, determined, 
that every one has a right to retain the rents and profits 
which accrued whilft he was thus legally poft'efted of the 
inheritance. 1 Iuji. 11. 2 Wilf. 526. 
No perfon can properly be fuch an anceftor, as that an 
inheritance of lands or tenements can be derived from 
him, unlefs lie hath had aftual feifin of fuch lands, either 
C E N T. 
by his own entry, or by the pofielTion of his own or his 
anceltor’s lelfee for years, or receiving rent from a leflee 
of the freehold ; Co. Litt. 15. or unlefs he hath had what 
is equivalent to Corporal feifin in hereditaments that are 
incorporeal, fuch as the receipt of rent, a prefentation to 
the church in cafe of an advowfon, and the like; but he 
ftiall not be accounted an anceftor, who hath had only a 
bare right or title to enter, or be otherwife feifed. The 
feifin, therefore,* of any perfon, thus underftood, makes 
him the root or (lock, from which all future inheritance, 
by right of blood, mu ft be derived ; which is very briefly 
exprelfed in tills maxim, feijina facetJtfpitem. Flet. 1.6. c. 2. 
Though it be necefiary the anceftor be feifed, yet it is 
not required that the feifin continue till the death of fuch 
anceftor; fgr, if lie had been feifed at any time during 
his life, arid afterwards dilfeifed, Hill, if he had not part¬ 
ed with his right or property, his heir ftiall inherit. 
1 Injt. 237. If the hereditaments defeending be in rever- 
fion or remainder, expedient 011 an eftate of freehold, the 
heir may obtain what will be equivalent to an afilual fei¬ 
fin, by granting them over for life or in tail. When, 
therefore, a perfon dies fo feifed, the inheritance firft 
goes to his ilfue ; as, if there be grandfather, father, and 
fon, and the father purchafes lands and dies, his foil ftiall 
fucceed him as heir, and not the grandfather, to whom 
the land (hall never lineally afeend, but fiiall rather ef- 
cheat to the lord. Litt. 3. This rule, that the inheri¬ 
tance (hall never lineally afeend, clearly appears to be of 
feudal origin, and the propriety of it is well defended by 
Blackftone, to whom we refer the reader delirous of in- 
veftigating the fubjedt, as a matter rather of curiofity 
than utility. 
Though an eftate cannot lineally afeend, the father 
may take his Ion’s eftate by an intermediate defeent; for, 
if the foil lias neither ilfue, nor brothers or fillers, the 
eftate will defeend to an nn.cle, or fome collateral rela¬ 
tion, to whom the father may, on his deceale, be the 
next heir ; and, in fome cafes, the father or mother may 
inherit immediately from a child : as if either of them 
are coufin to the child, a cafe of which nature occurs in 
2 P. IVnis. 613. where a fon died, feifed in fee of land, 
without ilfue, brother or ftfter, but leaving two coufins, 
his heirs at law, one of whom was his own mother, the 
queftion was, whether the mother could take as heir to 
her fon. The mailer of the rolls was of opinion, that, 
though the heir was alfo mother, this did not hinder her 
from, taking in the capacityor relation of con fin. zCemm. 21 2. 
In 1 Inji. 8. it is faid, that if a man hath ilfue an elder 
fon, born out of the king’s allegiance, and after Hath 
another fon, born within the realm, the younger fon (hall 
have lands by defeent from his father in this cafe, and 
not the elder, who had never any inheritable blood in 
him. Co. Litt. 8. But, if the father, in this cafe, is to 
be fuppofeda natural-born fubjecl, at the birth of the if- 
fue, the child would now be alfo a natural-born fubjecl 
by force of 7 An. c. 5. 4 Geo. II. c. 21. But the children 
of perfons attainted of, or liable to the penalties of, trea- 
fon, or in the fervice of a foreign (late in enmity with 
Great Britain, are excepted from the benefit of this pro- 
vilion. 25 Edw. III. declares, that, at common law, the 
children of the king, wherever born, may inherit. The 
fame ftatute enables children born abroad to inherit, if 
at their birth both their parents are within the king’s al¬ 
legiance, and their mothers pafs the fea with the licence 
of their hulbands. Lord Coke alfo lays it down for law, 
that if an alien hath iftiie in England two Ions, though 
thefe fons are indigence, fubje<Sts born, they cannot inherit 
to each other ; but, in the cafe of Collingwood v. Pace, 
this was denied to be law, and it was exprelsly held, that 
fuch fons of aliens were inheritable to each other. 1 
Ventr. ^ 13. And now, by 11 & 12IY.Hl. c. 6, natural- 
born fubjefits may derive a title by delcent through their 
parents, though aliens; but z$Geo. II. c. 39. confines 
the benefit of the former ftatute to fuch heirs as ftiall be 
living, and canable of taking at the death of the perfon 
