star-pagination">*Page 225 taken as purchasers; for had they succeeded as heirs it would have been in parcenary, whereas by the devise they take in joint tenancy, or in common.

It is now proper to look at our act of Assembly regulating descents, and to learn from it how lands are held which descend on several coheirs; and the words are very explicit: "The estate shall descend to all the sons, to be equally divided amongst them, and for want of sons, to all the daughters, to be equally divided amongst them severally, share and share alike, as tenants in common in severalty, and not as joint tenants."

It is not necessary to cite authorities to prove that the devise to the daughters in this case gives them a remainder as tenants in common. The words "equally to be divided" have repeatedly been adjudged to be, in a devise, words of severance.

As, then, the daughters took the same estate under the will that they would have taken had the ancestor died intestate, it follows that they were in by descent, and the devise was void.

After an attentive consideration of the acts of Assembly regulating descents, and particularly of the act of 1784, ch. 22, sec. 7, we adopt the opinion that none of the cases provided for comprehend a descent from the parent so as to vest a life estate in the mother.

The parent shall succeed, where the child derives the estate from him; but that must be by some act inter vivos, for the parent must be dead before the child could derive it by descent from him. The parent shall also succeed where the child actually purchases the estate, (292) or otherwise acquires it. The just construction of this clause we think equally exclusive of the case of a descent from the parent, for reasons which, having heretofore been elaborately stated, it would be a waste of time to iterate.

The opinion of the Court being in favor of the plaintiffs upon these points in the case, it is unnecessary to notice the others.

Judgment for the plaintiffs.

NOTE. — See Campbell v. Heron, 1 N.C.; McKay v. Hendon, 7 N.C. 209.

Cited: McKay v. Hendon, 7 N.C. 211; Caldwell v. Black, 27 N.C. 467. *Page 226

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