DESCENT

In Law, if a person die seised in fee-simple, Otherwise than as a joint tenant (see post), of lands or tenements which be has not disposed of by will, they will dei In bis heir. Such seisin is cither actual po e ion or virtual; as, po e ion by the tenant of a chattel interest, whose po e ion is always held to be the same with that of the remainderman, or reversioner, who is to succeed him. If a person have become po e ed by purchase of lands or tenements in fee-simple, of which, from the nature of the estate, he cannot obtain seisin (as a remainder expectant on a particular estate of freehold), these likewise descend to the heir in case of his intestacy. It is well known that by the common law of England the rules of descent were different from those obtaining in other countries that; a direct lineal ancestor could in no case inherit from his descendant; that brothers and sisters of the half blood, i. e. sprung from another mother, or from another father, were also excluded from the succe ion. These rules have now (by 3 & 4 W. 4. c. 106. ) been wholly removed or modified; so that the law of descent recognizes in succe ion the following heirs: — 1. The eldest or only son, or his i ue. 2. The younger son, or his i ue. 3. The daughter, or, if more than one, all the daughters as coparceners (see post) and their i ue; such i ue claiming per stirpes, not per capita, i. e. claiming only the share of their respective mothers. 4. In default of lineal descendants, the nearest lineal ancestor now succeeds, in preference to any person who would have been entitled to inherit either by tracing his descent through such lineal ancestor,or in consequence of there being no descendant of such lineal ancestor; e.g. a father inherits before a brother, a grandfather before an uncle, . 5. In default of father, brothers, or sisters of the whole blood and their i ue, then the inheritance devolves on the eldest brother or sister of the half blood by a different mother, the half blood following the sime rule where the inheritance devolves on th. tof any other ancestor. 7. On failure of male ancestor-*331 on Ihe paternal side and their descendants, [s. 345]