Descent

Hereditary succession. Title by descent is the title by which one law. 2 Bl. Comm. 201; Comyn, Dig. "Discent" (A). It was one of the principles of the feudal system that, on the death of the tenant in fee, the land should descend, and not ascend. Hence the title by inheritance is in all cases called descent, although by statute law the title is sometimes made to ascend. The English doctrine of primogeniture, by which by the common law the eldest son and his issue take the whole real estate, has been universally abolished in this country. So, with few exceptions, has been the distinction between male and female heirs. Descent is either "lineal," as from father to son, or "collateral," as from brother to brother.

Hereditary succession. Succession to the ownership of an estate by inheritance or by any act of law, as distinguished from "purchase." Title by descent is the title by which one person, upon the death of another, acquires the real estate of the latter as his heir at law. 2 Bl. Comm. 201; Com. Dig. "Descent," A; Adams v. Akerlund, 168 III. 632, 48 N. E. 454; Starr v. Hamilton, 22 Fed. Cas. 1,107; In re Donahue's Estate, 36 Cal. 332 ; Shippen v. Izard, 1 Serg. & R. (Pat) 224; Brower v. Hunt, 18 Ohio St. 338; Allen v. Bland, 134 Ind. 78, 33 N. E. 774. Classification. Descents are of two sorts, lineal and collateral. Lineal descent is descent in a direct or right line, as from father or grandfather to son or grandson. Collateral descent is descent in a collateral or oblique line, that is, up to the common ancestor and then down from him, as from brother to hrother, or between cousins. Levy v. McCartee, 6 Pet. Il2, 8 L. Ed. 334. They are also distinguished into mediate and immediate descents. But these terms are used in different senses. A descent may be said to be a mediate or immediate descent of the estate or right; or it may be said to be mediate or immediate, in regard to the mediateness or immediateness of the pedigree or consanguinity. Thus, a descent from the grandfather, who dies in possession, to the grandchild, the father being then dead, or from the uncle to the nephew, the brother being dead, is, in the for mer sense, in law, immediate descent, although the one is collateral and the other lineal; for the heir is in the per, and not in the per and cui. On the other hand, with reference to the line of pedigree or consanguinity, a descent is often said to be immediate, when the ancestor from whom the party derives his blood is immediate, and without any intervening link or degrees; and mediate, when the kindred is derived from him mediante altero, another ancestor intervening between them. Thus a descent in lineals from father to son is in this sense immediate ; but a descent from grandfather to grandson, the father being dead, or from uncle to nephew, the brother being dead, is deemed mediate; the father and the brother being, in these latter cases, the medium, deferens, as it is called, of the descent or consanguinity. Levy v. McCartee, 6 Pet. 112, 8 h. Ed. 334 ; Fu renes v. Mickelson, 86 Iowa, 508, 53 N. W. 4l6; Garner v. Wood, 71 Md. 37, 17 Atl. 103L Descent was denoted, in the Roman law, by the term "successio," which is also used by Bracton, and from which has been derived the succession of the Scotch and French jurisprudence.

— Descent cast. The devolving of realty upon the heir on the death of his ancestor intestate.

discent. Hereditary succession; succession to an estate by where he is a child or other issue. Descent east: a succession where the heir is the heir of an abator, disseisor or intruder, in which case the owner cannot perfect his estate by entry, but must resort to his right of action.

Hereditary succession. Succession to the ownership of an estate by inheritanee, or by any act of law, as distinguisheil from “purchase.” Title by descent is the title by which one person, upon the death of another, acquires the real estate of the latter as his heir at law. 2 Bl. Comm. 201; Com. Dig. “Descent,” A, Deseents are of two serts,—lineal, as from father or gruudfather to son or grandson; or collatera!}, as from brother to brother, or cousin to cousin. They are also distinguished into mediate and immediate descents. But these terms are used in different senses. A descent may be said to be a mediate or immediate descent of the estate or right; orit may be said to be mediate or immediate, in regard to the mediateness or immediateness of the pedigree or consanguinity. Thus, a descent from the grandfather, who dies in possession, to the graudchild, the father being theu dead, or from the uncle to the nephew, the brother being dead, is, in the former sense, in law, immediate descent, although the one is collateral and the other lineal; for the heir is in the per, and notin the per and cui. On the other hand, with reference to the line of pedigree or consanguinity, a descent is often said to be immediate, when the ancestor from whom the party derives his blood is immediate, and without any intervening link or degrees; and mediate, when the kindred is derived from him imethhante aitero, another ancestor intervening between them. Thus a descent in lineals from father to son is in this sense immediate; but adescent from grandfather to grandson, the father being dead, or from unele te nephew, the brother being dead, is deemed mediate; the fatheranod the brother betug, in these latter cases, the »edizm deyerens, as it is called, of the descent or consanguinity. 6 Pet. 102. Descent was denoted, in the Roman law, by the term “suecessto,” which is also used ——— by Bracton, and from which has been derived the succession of the Scotch and French jurisprudence,

Succession as distinguished from heir of an abator, ance from him; in made a subject by[^letters patent of the land by purchase, not inheritance. digniori, I. Denomuiation is from the more chattel, animate or inanimate, which was of the death of any reasonable creature; to the Crown, to be applied to pious almoner; thus, a sword, a horse, a platform might be deodand. of ground in pleading; as when a man sets plea and a different one in the rejoinder. in writing, to depose. bailment for safe keeping without reward. taken in writing, under oath, before a juto interrogatories. An af Sdavit is ex interrogatories. authorized to do certain acts in the name of

Discent. [Lat. descetnus; Fr. discent.'] The title by which a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate by right of representation, as his heir at law. 2 Bl. Com. 201. Co. Litt. 13 b. 3 Cru. Dig. 362. 4 Ken Cs Com. 374. — Succession by law to an estate in lands. jffalli/ax Anal. b. 2, c. 9, num. 2, 4.

— Discent. when land, &c., after the death of the ancestor, is cast by course of law upon the heir. Co. Litt. 237 b. 2 CrcM's Real Prop. 1012, § 2390. — The passage or transmission of an estate from the ancestor to the heir, usually in the descending line.* — The title to inherit land by reason of consanguinity, as well where the heir shall be an ancestor or collateral relation, as where he shall be a child or other issue. 1 Steph. Com. 357, note. This last is the new definition adopted by the English statute 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 106. See Aneest&r, Heir^ Inheritance. Descent, as applied to the transmission of estates, is a term wholly derived from the feudal law, in which, after feuds or fiefs became hereditary, it was an established maxim that they should always be transmitted downwards from father to son, and so lineally, while heirs continued, and never in the opposite direction. Feud. lib. 2 t. 60. Id. 4 t. 84. Esprit des Lois, liv. 31, c. 33. Frsk. Inst. b. 3, tit. 8. 2 Bi. Com. 211. Hence, doubtless, the adoption of the word descent in its full, proper, and peculiar sense of passage downwards, as expressive of this doctrine, in preference to the Roman term succession, (successio,) which had no such exclusive meaning. Esprit des Lois, uh. sup. See Succession. The feudal law of descent was obviously founded on principles peculiar to the system, but it had also a quality which seems to have aided its reception and establishment, especially in England, namely, its seeming conformity to the order of nature. Hence the observation of Glanville, that an inheritance naturally descends, never naturally ascends; {hcereditas naturali" ter descendit, nunquam naturaliter ascendit.) Olanv. lib. 7, c. 1. Hence, also, the employment by.Bracton of the very expressive figure of a heavy body falling downwards, to illustrate the old English doctrine of descent, as denoting the natural course of succession. Descendit itaque jus, quasi ponderosum quid cadens deorsum, recta linea vel transvermli, et nunquam re-aacendit ed vid qua descendit; the right therefore descends like some heavy body falling downwards, in the right or transverse line, and never re-ascends the same way it descends. Bract, fol. 62 b. The feudal doctrine of descent was, however, adopted in England with a material quahfication confining it to lineal succession. Collaterally, the inheritance was allowed to ascend. A latere tamen ascendit. Bract, ub. sup. The ancient rule, thus modified — ^that inheritances shall lineally descend, but shall never lineally ascend — continued to be a leading canon of descent in English law almost down to the present time. It was abolished by statute 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 106, which declares that " every lineal ancestor shall be capable of being heir to any of his issue," 1 Steph. Com. 378. In American law the ascent of estates has long been authorized. 4 JS'ent's Com. 392, 393 et seq. But, notwithstanding this material departure frgm the primitive or feudal law on this subject, the characteristic language of that law has been in a marked degree retained; the primitive terms descent and descend bein^ constantly used even to denote transmission in an upward direction. Thus, an inheritance is said to " descend to an ancestor," as " to a father." 1 Steph. Com. 376. 2 HUliard's Real Prop. c. 77. The ancient law of England, even in Bracton's time, was much more precise and discriminative; a right or estate being said to a;scend or descend according as it passed upwards or downwards in the lines of consanguinity. Nunquam re-ascendit. Bract, fol. 62 b. A latere ascendit. Id, ibid. So, in the Scotch law, it is said " the succession mounis upward to the father." Ersk. Inst. b. 3, tit. 8, § 9. But notwithstanding the ej^mple of very high American authority, (4 Kent's Com. 393, 397,) the terms ascent and ascend have never taken firm root even in American law; nor is the derivative ascendant employed with the frequency which its peculiar propriety would seem to suggest. See Ascendant. Descent was denoted in the Roman law by the term successio, which is also used by Bracton, and from which has been derived the succession of the Scotch and French jurisprudence. See Successio, Succession.