heir at law, heir general

One who by the common law succeeds to the lands and tenements of his father or ancestor at his death. heir-loom, s. [HEIRLOOM.] heir-presumptive, s. (See extract.) "Heirs-presumptive are such who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would in the present circumstances of things be his heirs; but whose right of inherit ance may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born; as a brother, or nephew, whose presumptive succe ion may be destroyed by the birth of a child; or a daughter, whose present hopes may be hereafter cut off by the birth of a son."-Black stone: Comment., bk. ii., ch. 11. IMG:content-1092.png:[blocks in formation] "One only daughter heired the royal state." Dryden: Virgil's Æneid , vii. 79. heir-dom (heir as är), s . [Eng. heir; -dom.] The state or condition of an heir; succe ion by inheritance; heirship.