Trufts de fcend to the whole Blood. 1 Inft. 14b. Dyer 10 b. Advowlons, lutt. 15 b. 3 Rep. 41 6. It was argued on the other fide that there was no feifin in fact by the eldest fifter, but at most a seifin in law, and the court would not incline to extend the operation of the rule excluding the fucceffion of the half blood, beyond the ftrict letter of it. Lord Kenyon faid, "Nothing can be clearer, than "that an infant may confider whoever enters on his "eftate, as entering for his ufe."-Refolved, that the furviving fifter did not take by defcent, but the lands fhould go to the heir of the whole blood of the fifter who died. $77. Before the ftatute of ufes, it was held that there might be a poffeffio fratris of a ufe. And there. fore where cestui que ufe had iffue a fon and a daughter by one venter, and a fon by another venter, and died, the eldest son took the profits, and died without iffue; it was held that the ufe fhould defcend to the daughter, as fifter and heir to her brother; and not to the younger fon. The doctrine of half blood is now applied to trusts as fully as to legal estates. 578. Advowfons, tithes, and rents, defcend to the whole blood; but there must be an actual feifin by prefentation to the church, or receit of the tithes or rents, to make a poffeffio fratris; fo that if the eldest fon dies Before the church becomes vacant, or any receit of tithes or rent, his brother of the half blood will inherit, as heir to his father; who was the perfon laft feifed. $ 79. Thus § 79. Thus if a man feised of an advowfon in grofs hath iffue a fon and a daughter by one venter and a fon by another and dies, and the eldest fon dies before any presentation, the youngest brother fhall have the advowfon; because the elder never had thereof. any feifin 1 Roll. Ab. 628. pl. 10. § 80. But if the eldest had presented, and died Idem pl. 11. without iffue, the youngest brother should not have had the advowfon, because the prefentation put the feifin in him. § 81. If two daughters by feveral venters make Idem pl. 12, partition of an advowson in gross to present by turns, and after one dies without iffue before any presentation, the other fhall have the advowfon, because there was no feifin thereof.-But it would have been otherwife if the that died had prefented after partition. $ 82. Lord Coke fays, the doctrine of half blood extends to offices, courts, liberties, franchises, and commons of inheritance. $83. A right to an estate in remainder or reverfion will not exclude the half blood; of which an account will be given in the next chapter. $ 84. The feventh and last canon or rule of defcent is," That in collateral inheritances the male ftocks "fhall be preferred to the female (that is, kindred "derived from the blood of the male ancestors, however remote, fhall be admitted before thofe from 13. 1 Inft. 156. 7th Canon. The Male Stocks preferred. 2 Comm. 235. Mode of tracing an Heir at Law. "the blood of the female, however near) unless "where the lands have in fact defcended from a "female." $ 85. Sir William Blackstone obferves that this rule was established in order to effectuate and carry into execution the fifth rule or principal canon of collateral inheritance, that every heir must be of the blood of the first purchaser. For when fuch purchafer was not eafily to be discovered, after a long course of defcents, the lawyers not only endeavoured to inveftigate him by taking the next relation of the whole blood to the perfon laft in poffeffion, but alfo confidering that a preference had been given to males by virtue of the fecond canon, through the whole courfe of lineal defcent, from the first purchaser, to the prefent time, they judged it more likely that the lands fhould have defcended to the laft tenant, from his male, than from his female ancestors. § 86. After a due confideration of the canons or rules of defcent already laid down, it will not be a difficult matter to ascertain the party on whom the law cafts the inheritance, whenever a comprehenfive genealogy fhall be made out, of the perfons connected in blood with the propofitus, or party laft feifed: For there is no title in the English law reducible to a more technical system than the title of defcent in fee fimple. One or the other of two principles only will determine every cafe of competition on the subject of inheritance at common law; thefe principles are, 1ft, dignity of blood, and 2d, proximity of blood. § 87. Lord 12 4. § 87. Lord Coke, in his Commentary on Littleton, 1 Inft. 10 a. has partly explained in what order the attribute of dignity of blood is applied by legal intendment. But as the whole fubject is fufceptible of a compendious arrangement, perhaps it may be fatisfactory to enumerate the feveral claffes which by phyfical neceffity muft comprehend every defcription of kindred; and to state the degree of dignity in which they ftand to the propofitus. § 88. Thefe claffes are, 1. The male stock of the paternal line. 2. The female ftock of the paternal line. 3. The male branches of the female stock of the paternal line. 4. The female branches of the female stock of the paternal line. 5. The male ftock of the maternal line. 6. The female branches of the male stock of the maternal line. 7. The male branches of the female ftock of the maternal line. 8. The female branches of the female ftock of the maternal line. § 89. The reafon and progrefs of this feries will on a little confideration appear intelligible. They who trace from the male ftock, either in the afcending or defcending Ee 3 Vide Table of Defcents defcending line, muft of neceffity trace from a perfon bearing the name of Stiles, whether it be John, Geoffry, George, Walter, or Richard; and Stiles being the family name, they are all entitled to the firft rank of dignity. When these are exhausted recourse is to be had to thofe female ftocks who have intermarried with the males of the name of Stiles, and have contributed to the blood of the paternal line; fuch as Cecilia Kempe, Chriftian Smith, and Ann Godfrey, who conftitute the fecond class. Every female having fo intermarried, at how remote foever a period, is deemed to be a stock of the fame clafs, and all those of the fame clafs are held to be equal in point of dignity. It is further to be obferved that each stock in the afcending line is fucceffively to be exhausted, first in its male, and then in its female branches, before we proceed to the next immediate female stock, for reafons hereafter to be affigned; and this doctrine gives rife to the third and fourth claffes, namely the male branches of the female ftock of the paternal, and the female branches of the female ftock of the paternal line. The fame gradation takes place in the maternal line, and gives rife to the fubfequent, or 5, 6, 7, and 8 claffes, on the fame ground as in the paternal line, and therefore it is unnecessary to repeat them. Thus far in explanation of the first principle. § 90. The fecond principle, or that of proximity of blood, is twofold; it is either pofitive, or reprefentative. It is pofitive when parties claim in their own individual |