HERA 
Having thus completed the feries of Armorial Bearings 
throughout the different orders of precedency ; and hav¬ 
ing dated, in the introductory part of this article, from 
the great legal authority of Mr. Juftice Blackftone, the 
original right of Peerage, and alfo the mode by which 
Peers are now created ; we cannot clofe the confideration 
of this important fubjecl, in a manner more fuitable to 
the Science of Heraldry, than by explainingthofe points; 
the inveftigation of which, in a more early ftage of the 
fubjecl, we conceived it right to defer, that the mind of 
the heraldift might be prepared to receive that elucida¬ 
tion,which, from the intricacy of the matter, no writer 
feems as yet fufficiently to have explained; and to which 
we therefore now direct the attention of the reader. 
DESCENT of HEREDITARY TITLES of' 
HONOUR. 
If we attentively cor,fider the pedigrees and families 
from whence the original honours of the peerage of the 
united kingdom are derived, we fhall frequently ob- 
ferve an apparent want of uniformity in the line from 
whence thofe honours have defcended ; and in feveral 
inftances perceive a deviation which, unlefs explained, 
muft leave the mind in doubt, whether the general law 
ef defcent is applicable to the honours of the peerage; 
and ! in what inftances thofe general and eftablifhed 
maxims form an exception. Cafes occur, wherein the 
honour has defcended in right of a female ; others 
wherein the fon has fucceeded to a peerage in right of 
his mother, and taken precedence of his father; and in 
many wherein the fons of peers have been fummoned to 
parliament in the lifetime of the legal poffelfor of the 
honour by which the new baron afterwards takes his 
feat; and other peculiar circumftances, which we Ihall 
proceed to explain and illuftrate. 
To have a correct conception of the fubjedl, it is ma¬ 
terial to have well impreffed upon our minds, two very 
important confiderations. The one, that of the general 
law of defcent; and fecondly, the original inftitution of 
the peerage, and the fubfequent changes and alterations 
which have taken place in the mode of creation. 
Upon the firft head, we muft refer our readers to the 
article “ Descent,” in our fifth volume; and which 
we fhall very briefly recapitulate, in order to illuftrate 
the fubjedt, with a reference to a general table of de¬ 
fcent. It is very material that the reader fhould bear 
in his mind, that during the whole of the following ex- 
f danation, we are fearching for the heir of the perfon 
aft feifed, whether of an eftate in fee-fimple, or of an 
hereditable honour in fee. For, if either vefts in any 
ether perfon, as his heir, a new order of fucceflion muft 
be obferved upon the death of fuch heir; fince he, by 
his own feifin, now becomes an anceftor or Jlipes, and 
muft be put in the place of the perfon, laft feifed. 
We are firft to prefume, that the Propositus in 
our Table of Descent given on the annexed En¬ 
graving, is the perfon laft feifed of an hereditable ho¬ 
nour, or other eftate, in fee. In the firft place fucceeds 
his eldeft fon, or his iflue, (No. i.) If his line be ex- 
tindl, then his other fons fucceflively refpedtively, in 
order of their birth or their iflue, (No. 2.) In default 
of thefe, (in the cafe of an eftate in fee-fimple,) all the 
daughters together, or their iffue (No. 3) ; and where¬ 
by in law an eftate in coparcenary is created ; but in the 
cafe of an hereditable honour, the fame is in abeyance ; 
a term ufed to fignify, that the barony is not veiled, 
but is in expedtance, remembrance, of intendment of the 
law, and which we Ihall haveoccafion more fully to ex¬ 
plain and exemplify by real cafes. On failure of the 
defendants of the propofitus, in the table, the iflue of 
his parents is called in. Firft the eldeft brother of the 
whole blood, or his iflue (No. 4) ; then of the other 
whole brothers refpedtively in order of birth, or tlieir 
iflue, (No. 5.) Then, in the cafe of an inhereditable honour , 
the brothers of the half-blood, ex parte paterna. Then 
VOL. IX. No. 627. 
L D R Y. 787 
the fillers, as well of the whole, as of the half-bjood 
ex parte paterna, or their iflue (No. 6) ; and here again, 
an hereditable honour would be in abeyance. In de- 
fedt of thefe, the iflue of his father’s parents (No. 7) ; 
refpect being ftill had to their age, fex, and other par¬ 
ticulars, as in the former inftances. Then the iflue of 
the parents of his paternal grandfather (No; 8). Then 
the iflue of the parents of his paternal grandfather’s 
father (No. 9) ; and fo on, in the paternal grandfather’s 
paternal line, in infinitum. In defect.of thefe, the ilflue 
of the parents of his paternal grandfather’s mother 
(No. 10) ; and fo on, in the paternal grandfather’s ma¬ 
ternal line, in infinitum, until both the immediate bloods 
of the paternal grandfather are fperit. Themwemult 
refort to the iflue of the parents of the paternal grand¬ 
mother of the propofitus of the table (No. n); then 
to the iflue of the parents of the paternal grandmother’s 
father (No. 12); and fo on, in the paternal grandmo¬ 
ther’s paternal line, in infinitum. In default of which 
we muft call in the iffue of the parent^ of his paternal 
grandmother’s mother (No. 13) ; and fo on, in the pa¬ 
ternal grandmother’s maternal line, in infinitum, till 
both the immediate bloods of the paternal grandmother 
are alfo fpent; whereby the paternal blood of the pro¬ 
pofitus of the table entirely failing, recourfe muft then, 
and not before, be had to his maternal relations, in the 
order of the figures in the Table (14 to 20) ; and in the 
fame regular fucceflive order, as in the paternal line. 
Blac. Comm. Thefe rules and maxims, handed down to 
us for centuries, and univerfally adopted by long ufage 
and eftablilhed practice, are applicable as well to the 
defcent of all hereditable property, as to the defcent 
of dignities, with thefe two exceptions, viz. by the 
common law an inheritance will not defeend to the half- 
blood ; but there is no impediment to prevent the half- 
brother or blood from enjoying a family honour of inhe¬ 
ritance : nor does any copartnerlhip exift, the party en¬ 
titled takes the whole or none. And fubjedt to thefe 
two exceptions we muft refer the defcent of all baronies 
in fee, to the general law of defcent. 
We Ihall now proceed with our inquiry, as to the 
original inftitution of the peerage, and which will ne- 
celfarily include the confideration of the nature as well 
of baronies in fee, as of baronies with limitations direct¬ 
ing the defcent; and confequently forming exceptions 
to the general rules before laid down. 
In this branch of our inquiry we Ihall commence our 
refearches at the time of the Conqueror; a period when 
the military tenures of the Saxons underwent many al¬ 
terations from the introduction of the Normans; among 
whom the feodal law very generally prevailed, and in 
the feventh and fucceeding centuries was fo univerfally 
received throughout Europe, that fir Henry Spelman, 
in his Hiftory of Parliaments, confiders it as the law of 
nations in the weftern world. 
We Ihall arrange the confideration of the honours of 
the peerage under three general heads: tenure; writs 
of fummons; and, laftly, by letters patent. From the 
conqueft till about the 23d of Edward I. A.D. 1294, 
all baronies appear to have been held by tenure or pre- 
feription, and were feodal, the attendance of the barons 
in parliament being a fervice annexed to the pofleflion 
of their lands. From this latter period commenced the 
writs of fummons, and continued during and until the 
early part of the reign of Richard II. and from the nth 
of Richard II. A. D. 1387, may be confidered the in¬ 
troduction of the mode of creation by letters patent. 
A barony by tenure was founded upon the feodal law, 
as generally underftood in the time of the Conqueror; 
who, on his eftablilhment upon the throne of England, 
after taking into his pofleflion all the lands held by an¬ 
cient demefne of the crown, divided the reft by grants 
among his followers and army. All tenures being thus 
fuppofed to be derived from the king, thofe that held 
jnimediately under him were called his tenants incapite, 
9 P or 
