The ancient laws of Wales : viewed especially in regard to the light they throw upon the origin of some English institutions

Front matter

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McKEW PARR COLLECTION

Chapter I

the free brethren — their rules ok inheritance and family arrangements.

Sharing and Re-sharing of Family Land. — Rights of Succession between Coinheritors. — Marriage : Formal or Legitimate ; Clandestine or Private. — Divorce : Dues and Fees. — Female Succession : how far allowed. — Legitimacy : Denying and Receiving a Son.— Claimants by Maternity. — The Method of Sharing the Patrimony : the Principal Tyddyn. — Minority : Guardianship -.--......- 4

CHAPTER IL

the DEPENDENT CLASSES. — ALLTUDS, BREYr's AILLTS, KING'S AILLTS.

The Alltud and the Aillt distinguished. — The Alltud State : how entered and how quitted. — Rights of the Alltud as against his Lord, and in the matter of Galanas and Ebediw : Comparison with the Bondman in these respects.— The Proprietary Alltud, or Founder of a Kindred of Breyr's Aillts. — Settlement in a Taeogtrev, Conditions of Tenure, and final Emancipation. — King's Aillts or Taeogs : their Status and Services. — The Bond Maenol and the Maerdrev : Dues and Officers. — The Royal Taeogtrev held by a Communal Tenure : Rules for the Allotment of the Land. — Probable Origin of the King's Aillts as a Class - - - - 23

CHAPTER in.

THE TREV or joint FAMILY : ITS ORIGIN AND SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND.

Claims by Maternity : why ordinarily barred, and why in some cases allowed. — The Trev : Derivation of the Word. — Denotes (i.) a Joint Family, the Result of Three Generations to the Fourth; (ii.) the Rights and Privileges, especially in regard to Land, attaching to such a Family ; and xii Contents.

(iii.) its Allotted Habitation. — Acquirement of Freehold Land by the Method of Conservancy. — Nature of the Possessory Title : Actions of Dadanhudd. — A Title conferred by Public Investiture on the Part of the Lord as Administrator of the Lands of the Community. — Land so held termed Increasing or Delsatable Land. — Converted by a Second Investiture into Breyr or Freehold Land, held by Rod-title - - • - 49

CHAPTER IV.

EXPANSION OF THE TREV INTO THE CENEDL AND THE CANTREV.

The Trev first expands into the Cenedl or Kindred, which appears as a definite Organization in connection with the Payment of Galanas and in other Matters. ^ — -The Kindred extends to the Ninth Man, i.e., the Seventh Generation. — Reason for this Limit. — Unit of the Cenedl : the Penteulu or Elder.— Powers of the Penteulu, especially in relation to those of the Pencenedl. — Formation of New Kindreds. — The Trevgordd, or Hamlet of the Kindred, an Expansion of the Family House. — Second Development of the Trev : the Cantrev. — Origin of the Name. — Really an Expansion of the Trev. — References to the Cymwd or Cantrev as the 'Country and Kindred.' — Officers of the Cantrev : the Brenin or Chief, with his Maer, Canghellor, etc. — The Cantrev an Independent Country. — Officers of the Cenedl : the Pencenedl, the Teisbanteulu, etc. - - 80

CHAPTER V.

THE TREV AND ITS RIGHTS OF TILLAGE AND PASTURE.

Right to the Fruition of Five Free Erws : to whom belonging. — The Erws Maintenance Allotments in Common Fields of the Cantrev. — Use of the Term ' Erw ': a Permanent Strip of Arable Land. — The Common Fields apportioned among the Kindreds ; each Kindred tilled its own Portion by a System of Co-tillage. — ^The Common Fields distinct from the Breyr Lands held in Separate Ownership. — Co-tillage of the Waste, another Right of the Free Cymro : how exercised. — Co-tillage among Aillts. — Common Pastures. — Various Meanings of the Term 'Rhandir': no System of Tillage binding upon the Trev of Free Brethren in respect of their Proprieties. — Law of Cattle Trespass : Rights of Free Range. — The Herdsman of the Trev ---------- 120

CHAPTER VI.

THE MAENOR.

The Maenor often used for the Trev, perhaps because of the Meerstones surrounding the latter, but more probably because of the Stone Fence around the Trevgordd. — Chief use of the term in connection with Royal Privilege.—Denotes (i.) the Royal Castle of Stone situated in each Cymwd. (ii.) The Lands pertaining thereto, comprising the Demesne or Board Land, the Maerdrev of the Labour Tenants, and the Bond Vills of rent-paying Taeogs. — The System as e.xhibited in the Record of Carnarvon. —

Contents. xiii

PAGE

Similar Maenors in South and West Wales : the Gorvotrev : Bro and Gwrthdir. (iii.) Later, the term Maenor is used of the Cymwd in private hands, or of a Trev of Uchelwrs with Aillts attached . - - - 140

CHAPTER VII.

DEV^ELOPMENTS IN LAND TENURE.

Gavael or Distress, the only Mode of enforcing the Services due from Breyr Land. — No Forfeiture for Breach of Conditions, but only for Offences against the Community. — No True Escheat. — Hence the Breyr called Gavaelawgwr. — Deed Land, on the other hand, granted out by the Lord as Private Owner : subject to Forfeiture : not cognizable in the Cymwd Court. — Grants to Ecclesiastical Lords : Position of the tenants. — Attempts to introduce Leasehold Tenure on Church Lands. — The Normal Villein Tenure termed Trefgewery. — Introduction of Treweloge or Family Tenure into Villein Hamlets with the Concurrence of the Lord. — Intermediate Stages : Apportionment of Rent among Separate Holdings : Succession of the Youngest Son. — Origin of Junior Right - - - 168

CHAPTER VIIL

ROYAL SUCCESSION; RULES AS TO MARRIAGE; ALIENATIONS.

The King combined many Characters : hence the Rules as to the Succession to the Kingship were of a special kind. — The Edling or Heir Apparent : Rights of other Heirs. — Marriages were ordinarily contracted within the Clan, but outside the Kindred : Rules on the subject dictated by Policy. — Right of Alienation closely limited 192

Part II. The British Element In English Institutions

CHAPTER I.

THE MANOR.

The Welsh Regulations as to the vSettlement and Emancipation of AUtuds show how a Manor might in time include Freeholders : the Lord usurps the Jurisdiction of the Cymwd. — How Freeholding in a Manor might be extended. — Evidence in Favour of these Assumptions. — English Rules as to Strangers. — Settlement of the Gebur. — Different classes of Villeins mentioned by old writers. — Distinction between Ascriptitii, or Irremovable, and Nativi, or Oustable Villeins. — In Ancient Royal Manors (principally) a third kind of Villenage existed, viz. : Villein Socage, with some of the marks of Freeholding. This was Conditional Villenage, probably, in its last stage, arrested before it became fully free. — The Manor also included pure Freeholders, though they came in a: a later time and were not an essential part of the organization : Copyhold Manors exist and are easily explainable. — The word Manor of British Origin : other Manorial Terms derived from the same source .... 201 xiv Contents.

Chapter II. The Hundred And The Riding

I'AGE

The Hundred, a Territorial Unit of wide Prevalence. — Origin of the Name : like Cantrev, assumed to be connected with the Number lOO. — No Ground for this Supposition. — The Hundred, the Welsh Cantrev, the Swiss Canton, the German Zent, a Settlement of Kindred, a ' Group ' of Trevs of no fixed Number. — The Cantrev and its Organization probably not greatly disturbed by the English Conquest : the Hundred borrowed, in Name and Substance, from the Britons. — Three Cantrevs normally formed a Gwlad : this appears in England as a Trithing or Riding. — Northumbria probably formed by successive Conquests of British Gwlads ; hence the Ridings of Yorkshire. — -Traces of the same System in other parts of England. — The Sithesocn, Leth, or Three-Hundreds - -237

Chapter III. The Tithing

Organization of the Hundred Court : its Control over Folk-land ; its Barones or Justices. — Subordinate to the Hundred were the Tithing and the Borh : two distinct Organizations ; the former local, the latter personal. — The Growth of the Frith-borh or Frank-pledge System : Authorities on the Subject ; a Police Arrangement dating from about the time of Alfred. — No Evidence for the Existence of an intermediate Organization between the Frith-borh and the Hundred. — The Tenmannetale. — Confusion in later times between the Decennal Pledge and the Local Tithing. — The latter represents the Welsh Trev. — The Tithingman or Headborough, a local officer. — The Prefectus Vill^e. — The Township also had its Constable, and six (or four) Representatives. — The Tithingman probably the Teisbanteulu, the Constable the Dialwr, and the Representatives the Seven Elders 274

Chapter IV. Manorial Courts: Ranks And Classes

The Customary Court of a Manor corresponds to the Court of the Welsh Taeogtrev. — Other courts — the Court Baron and the Court Leet — courts of country, derived from the Hundred ; the former represents the civil, the latter the criminal, side of the business of the original Hundred or Cantrev Court. — Origin of the Names : Court Baron is the Llys Barn, or Court of Judgment of British times ; Court Leet, the Cwrt Lid, or Court of Wrath, i.e., of Family Feuds. — The Writ of False Judgment : Welsh parallels. — The Judges termed Barones : identical with the Less Thanes, the Twyhyndemen, and the Ceorls of the ancient English Laws. — Other Classes : the Welshman or Foreigner, the King's Thegn or Twelfhyndeman. — Obligation to Military Service : the owner of Five Hides. — The Medial Thegn, or Vavassor. — The Yeoman, the Esquire, the Lawman. — Legales and Legaliores Homines. — Derivation of the word Baron. — The Citizens of London anciently termed Barons - - 310

Contents. xv

Chapter V. The Jury

I'AGE

The Assise or Body of Recognitors, an Anglo-Norman Institution. — Different from the Jurata Patriae or Jury of the Country. — The Verdict of the latter not Liable to Attaint on the ground of Perjury : the Jurymen were Judices or Judges, and not Witnesses, as in an Assise. — They could consider Evidence. — The Patria was the Hundred, of which the Jurors were always said to be, wherever they might act. — Their action was of the nature of an Arbitration, and they probably represented the Select Breyrs who gave the Verdict of Country in the Cantrev Court. — No Special Significance in the Number XH. — The Jury not an Offshoot of the System of Compurgation. — That System in existence in Anglo-Saxon times, in a form similar to that which prevailed in Wales. — The Repudiation by Kindred of Liability in respect of the Alleged Offence. — In other countries the Kindred not Compurgators : the Exculpatory Oath of the Nature of Testimony. — Likelihood that the English derived their System from the Conquered Britons 369

CHAPTER VL

FEUDAL SUCCESSION.

The Feudal Theory was that all Fiefs were originally Conditional Grants made by a Universal Proprietor : historically untenable. — The Feudum was Land of Office, temporarily enjoyed by Vassals or Ministers of the Lord. — Extensive Conversion into Feuds, by Commendation and otherwise, of Alods or Free Family Proprieties. — Right of Inheritance, however, insisted on : hence Alodial Rules of Succession become part of the Feudal System.— No general set of Rules of Feudal Succession : Local Varieties : Primogeniture a late modification. — The English Rules different from those of the Normans, especially in the Exclusion of Direct Ascendants. — No doubt derived from the Native Alodial Rules, under which Bocland was inherited before the Conquest. — These Rules similar to those of the Welsh : illustration from a Gift in Franc Marriage 412

Chapter VII. Socage, Gavelkind, And Borough English

The ordinary Rule of Succession in Socage Tenure at first Equal Division : gradually displaced in most Districts by Primogeniture. — No Feudal Incidents in respect of Socage : the Relief really a Death Fee, the Welsh Ebediw, and the Marriage Fee an Amobyr. — The Socman was the Man possessed of a Soc or Privilegium, i.e., irremovability from his Holding. — Socmen in Domesday ; clearly Alodiaries. — Gavelkind, a special kind of Socage preserved in Kent. — Not liable to Forfeiture for Felony or for Non-render of Services. — These only enforceable by Distress, known as Gavelet. — Clear connection with Rules as to Welsh Breyr Land : derivation of the term Gavelkind : its use in other Districts. — Rule as to the xvi Contents.

PAGE

Homestead : derivation of Astre. — Further coincidence with the Welsh Custom in the Rule as to the Attainment of Majority. — Borough English, at least in Copyhold Tenure, probably of British Origin - - - - 440

CHAPTER Vni.

COMMON FIELDS : LOCAL NOMENCLATURE.

Vestiges of the Ancient British Common Field System to be found throughout England. — Names used in connection with it, as Laine, Leakway, Paul, Furlong, Land, etc., probably of British origin. — Abundant traces of British occupation in the place-names of Saxon England. — Tre, Dod, in names of Hundreds and Vills, a common British name element. — So Eccles, Pen, Hampton, Cot, Glas, Ney, etc. — The Denes of Kent : small British Manors, with a central stronghold. — Other Kentish place-names. — Character of the English Conquest of Sussex 493

Addenda and Corrigenda 544

INDEX 545

THE ANCIENT LAWS OF WALES.

PART I.

THE WELSH LEGAL AND SOCLiL SYSTEM.

INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY.

The free Welsh community was organized in this manner. At the base were the freeholding heads of households. Every man, however, belonged to a joint family, or frev, as well as to a family. Every trev belonged to a cenedl or kindred with its pencenedl or chief, elders, and other officers. All the kindreds together were organized into a canirev or enlarged trev, though the cantrev was often for convenience divided into cwmmwds, or neighbourhoods, similarly organized with a cantrev. The cantrev had a chief, or lord, who had (i.) a royal court (of ceremony), with a staff of officers, and (ii.) a legal court, over which he presided (or in his absence, his maer or reeve), giving it sanction as ruler, but not as judge, and in which (except in some parts, where a different practice seems to have come in at a late date), the freeholding heads of households, or Breyrs, as they were called, acted as judges of law and fact. In fact, the freeholders, as a confraternity, arbitrated or decided their disputes, under sanction of their administrative and executive chief. In this court, too, other matters of public interest, or which needed to be done notoriously, were settled. Whatever powers a head of family, or joint family, originally had, he seems to have retained little of them. The chief and officers of the kindred retained divers powers, but the enlarged trev appears to have possessed most of the authority and jurisdiction which may have belonged to a trev before it became 50 enlarged.

Sometimes several cantrevs were combined into one country, or

I gwlad, under one prince ; but the cantrev with its court remained a complete organization. There were a maer and canghellor and other officers of country in each cantrev, and the prince went about from palace to palace, holding a court in each of his cantrevs, each of which had in turn to support his establishment. At a subsequent period these principalities were held under one common overlord as a cyiiilad, or common country ; but the cantrev institutions remained, though some alterations were effected in the way of appeals and legislation.

So far we have dealt with the Free Brotherhood. But they, after all, formed only an oligarchy. Under them were divers orders, who had nothing to do with the settlement of disputes or affairs. First, there were A Hinds, i.e., strangers, refugee Welshmen, and others, settling within the cantrev. As is now done with Kaffirs coming over the borders into Natal, they were obliged to be placed under some proprietor. In time they became recognised inferior members of the community, with lands, rights, and privileges, but still under burdens to the Breyr who protected and answered for them. They were Aillts, i.e., protected ones, having no share in the free privileges of the brotherhood.

Then there were Aillts, or Taeogs, who became such by reason of having forfeited their free privileges.

All these Aillts were allowed in time to become free citizens, and to hold their lands freely.

There were also AUtuds of the king, who by favour of the prince were at once located by him on public land, and in a shorter time became free citizens, without ever becoming Aillts. And there were Aillts, or Taeogs of the king, who seem to have been always in servitude, and probably were members of a conquered race.

Lastly, there were Caet/is, or bondmen, in personal and not praedial servitude.

There appear to be no signs in the laws of any class superior to the Breyrs, except the prince's family. There were no nobles.

As to the land, all the wastes belonged to the free community of the cantrev in common. Of the rest, the greater part belonged to the free joint families. The prince, however, had some which was tilled by his Aillts, who paid dues and rendered other services to him. The various officers of court and country had lands attached to their offfces. There were also certain open lands which were common fields, in which every free Welshman was entitled to have

Inti'oductory Sunwiary. 3

an allotment of fixed size of five free erws for tillage, but no proprietary right.

These statements will place the reader in a better position to understand the detailed exposition of some parts of the laws upon which we now enter.

The most important thing to ascertain in the first place is the position of the Free Brethren : how they held their lands, how they acquired them, their share in government and judicial matters, and the rules of inheritance obtaining among them. It will be most convenient to commence with the rules of inheritance.

Chapter I. The Free Brethren Their Rules Of Inheritance And

FAMILY ARRANGEMENTS.

Sharing and Re-sharing of Family Land. — Rights of Succession between Co-inheritors.— Marriage: Formal or Legitimate; Clandestine or Private. — Divorce : Dues and Fees.- — Female Succession : how far allowed. — Legitimacy : Denying and receiving a Son. — Claimants by Maternity. — The Method of Sharing the Patrimony : the Principal Tyddyn. — Minority : Guardianship.

Family land {tir gwelymcg) or patrimony {trev tad) might be held by the family without division ^^ but it was usually shared or divided, and the manner of sharing will show the rights of the heirs, and who they were.^

On the death of the father, whom we will call A., his sons divided the patrimony equally among themselves. On the death of a son leaving sons and a brother or brothers him surviving, his sons divided his share equally among themselves, and so held it until the time came for a re-sharing of the whole inheritance. When all the sons of A. had died, there was a re-sharing {adran) among all his grandsons, first-cousins among themselves, and an 'equation,' which continued in force until all the grandsons were dead, when there was another and final re-sharing and equation among all the great-grandsons of A., second-cousins among themselves. In the meantime the sons of any son or grandson who died divided his share under the former sharing or re-sharing equally among themselves. After the final re-sharing, each second-cousin guaranteed the shares of the others, and the joint interest of the family, of which A. was the root, in the whole inheritance ceased. Still these great-grandsons remained members of such family ; it was, indeed, by virtue of such membership that they had claimed the final sharing and equation. If, therefore, any of them

^ ['Ancient Laws of ^Yales,' edited by Aneurin Owen, London, 1S41 ; vol. i., pp. 546, 760. This edition of the Laws, the one uniformly referred to in the notes o\ ihis work, will henceforth be denoted by the abbreviation LL. ]

Sharing and Re-sharing of Family Land. 5

died leaving no sons, then, in default of nearer kin, the second-cousins inherited equally his share.

'After there shall have been sharing of land among co-inheritors^ no one has a claim on the share of the other, he having issue, except for a re-sharing, when the time for that shall arrive. Yet whosoever shall not have any issue of his body, his co inheritors within the three degrees of kin from the stock are to be heirs. '^ ' No one is to obtain the land of a co-heir, as of a brother, or cousin, or second-cousin, by claiming it as heir to that one co-heir who shall have died without leaving an heir of his body, but by claiming it as heir to one of his own ancestors who had been owner of that land till his death, ^ whether a father, or grandfather, or great-grandfather ; that land he is to have, if he be nearest of kin to the deceased.'^

Under the principles laid down here it would seem that a brother and his sons came first, then a cousin and his sons, and lastly a second cousin, but not his sons. And it is doubtful whether a brother's grandchildren had priority to or equality with first-cousins. On the principle of the last payment of ebediw (to which we shall presently refer) in respect of this share having been made for the father of the deceased brother, it may be that such father was treated first as the one formerly in possession, through whom title must be made before resorting to a remoter ancestor. In fact, one of the joint family descended from him had a prior claim. However this may be, it seems clear that there was, according to the above passages, no succession to the share of a deceased co-inheritor beyond grandchildren of a brother, children of a cousin, and a second-cousin ; and the succession of a brother or first-cousin, or their children, was liable to be modified when the time for a re-sharing came.

Moreover, though a son of a second-cousin was not entitled as a co-inheritor, or ' on the part of the person who might die,' yet he might ' claim by his father having formerly paid ebediw for that land, and that he ought to have his patrimony.'^ This needs explanation.

An ebediw was a fee payable to the lord of territory on the death of every freeman, unless such man had already paid a fee called gobyr estyn or cynhasedd (investment fee) upon receiving investiture from the lord of land or ofiice.^ Ebediw and gobyr estyn were of the same amount,*' and were regulated by the status of the man. The

- ' Without heir' is added in the translation, but this comes, not from the main text, but from a single MS. quoted in the notes, and is clearly wrong. ^ LL. i. 544. * LL. ii. 686. * LL. i. 546, 758 ; ii. 60. ^ LL. i. 556 ; ii. 574.

investment fee was payable in respect of land or office when first bestowed by the lord, or whenever it was requisite for him to give possession by formal investiture. Now, in ordinary course of devolution to the issue of the head of the family, the successors had to pay the ebediws of their parents ; they paid no investment fee, because their parents' possession and title were theirs. But if, after sharing, the owner of a share died without issue, this share was called ' extinguished land': ^ the rest of the family had parted with the possession, and, the man having no issue, there was no one in possession under him, and the possession reverted to the lord who originally gave it. The family, however, had not parted with their interest in the land, and were therefore entitled to have an investiture of the possession, for which they paid a fee accordingly.

'Neither brothers nor first-cousins pay ebediw for Ian 1, ns they do not obtain it without purchase'^— ?>., they do not obtain ic by natural devolution, as heirs of the body of the deceased, but only by some act vesting it in them. The word used for purchase is pry7iu^ which means ' a laying hold or acquiring. '^ Though commonly used to describe one sort of acquisition — viz., that by buying — it seems here to be employed in the primary sense, which, indeed, is the primary sense of the English word ' purchase,' and is retained in English law. One MS.* has prido^ or make payment, instead of prynii. This appears to refer to the investiture fee, and not to an actual buying of the share.

Again, 'Four persons are entitled to investiture. One is a co-inheritor, after brothers have shared their patrimony between them, and the share of another being extinguished without heirs of his body, the living shall have investiture of that land.'^ ' A gobyr (fee) paid by a relation — brother, first-cousin, or second-cousin — for their relative, for investiture of his land to them, which went from them before he possessed his due, whoever he may be, whether an aillt or a freeman. If he be a freeman, his ebediw is cxx. pence (for it is no more), which is paid for the land, and other cxx. pence for the investiture fee, for investment of his land, as not being heir to the person that died ; for although he was not the offspring of his body, yet he was the offspring of the person to whom it previously belonged, and therefore the lord is to invest him with his due and his original patrimony.' ^

'^ [Pughe : Welsh Dictionary, s.v.] •* LL. ii. 14, note.

Rights of Succession between Co- inheritors. 7

The passages relate entirely to succession by one co-heir to another otherwise than by re-sharing — that is, where, by a sharing or re-sharing, part of the patrimony had gone from the claimants in course of vesting in the deceased co-heir ('before he possessed his due'). In ordinary course of devolution, however, the sons of each co-inheritor of the preceding generation paid the ebediw of their father, and received their shares in a re-sharing (or, if no re-sharing was demanded by the persons interested, their shares of their father's portion) without investiture. But as they all took a joint inheritance, their ebediws were in fact paid for no specific portion of such inheritance, though they might afterwards divide it. Thus one second-cousin paid ebediw for the land subsequently allotted to the other. By the receipt of such ebediw he was accordingly acknowledged as a joint-owner in it by the lord ; and, therefore, though he parted with the possession, if his co-inheritor died without issue, his son was entitled to claim, as against the lord, the right to succeed to it, as being that which his father had been the last admitted to. And so, if the co-inheritor died, leaving a son who succeeded to his share, that son paid his father's ebediw, and was admitted as owner ; but if he again died without issue, leaving no nearer kin than his father's second-cousin, such last ebediw and admittance as to the separate share expired in effect, leaving the joint ebediw and admittance of the other still existing and operative. The second cousin, therefore, could claim to have investiture of the possession (which alone he had parted with) of such share. This seems to have been the reasoning. The two successions are put upon the same footing.^ '■ Second-cousins have the land of the nephew, and the nephew has the land of the uncle who may die without heir of his body.' But, on the death of such uncle before such nephew, the subsequent ebediw and admittance of the nephew to the part came into full effect as the last and only act of title, and completely severed the share from the original inheritance. Therefore a son of a second-cousin could not claim, by virtue of his father's having paid ebediw for the whole inheritance, to have the share of the son of his father's second-cousin. And so we are told in the context of the last-cited passage and elsewhere,^ that whoever died without an heir of his body or co-heir within the degree of third-cousin, the king is the heir to that land.^

^ But see post as to remoter kin having some sort of prior claim to it over strangers.

If the patrimony had remained in the family unshared, the survivors took the whole, ^ and that, apparently, without investiture or investiture fee. The possession remained in them. And so, if a man could show that his ancestor had never received a share in a patrimony which had been shared, he could make a claim ' by kin and descent ' to a share, even ' to the ninth man.' He was not claiming as heir to the share of another co-inheritor, but his own original share in the patrimony ; and this he could do, as in other cases where strangers had possessed his paternal lands, until the ninth descent — which, in this case, probably was reckoned from the ancestor who did not receive his share.

In the matter of a family inheritance, there could be no question as to a father inheriting his son's land."-^ But if a share of a co-inheritor became ' extinguished ' by reason of his dying without heir of his body, then, as before said, it reverted to the lord if there were no co-heirs to the degree of second-cousin. And it is said that, if the lord granted such share to a son, his father being alive, and such son died without issue, the father could not inherit it, because ' a due cannot return ;' but the other members of the family of the deceased to the degree of second-cousin would be capable of inheriting.^