Note 214 — Book VII.
John Beames translation
Descendit itaque Jus quasi ponderosum quid cadens deorsum. (Bracton 62. b.) “This Rule,” observes Sir Wm. Blackstone, “so far as it is affirmative, and relates to lineal descents, is almost universally adopted by all nations;” “but the negative branch, or total exclusion of Parents and all lineal Ancestors from succeeding to the Inheritance of their offspring, is peculiar to our own Laws, and such as have been derived from the same original.” (2 Com. 209.)
The Reader will recal to mind the material qualification of this Rule, which, though it precludes the Father from taking as Heir to his Son, by an immediate descent, permits him to take as Heir to his own Brother, who was Heir to the Son, by collateral descent. (Hale’s Hist. Com. Law. 216. 336. 2 P. Wms. 613. Mr. Christian’s note to 2 Bl. Com. 212.) This appears to coincide with the Rule as qualified by Bracton; for, having laid it down, that an Inheritance never ascends the same way it descends, he proceeds, a latere tamen ascendit alicui propter defectum heredum inferius provenientium. (Bracton 62. b. See also Grand Norm. Custum. c. 25.) A different Rule, from that in the text, is laid down in the Laws of Henry the first. Si quis sine liberis decesserit, pater aut mater ejus in hereditatem succedant, &c. (LL. Hen. 1. c. 70.)