Note 236 — Book VII.

Si quis, says a Law of Henry the first, sine liberis decesserit, Pater aut Mater ejus in hereditatem succedant, vel frater, vel soror, si pater et mater desint. (LL. Hen. 1. c. 70. Ed. Wilkins.)

Patri, says the Norman Code, succedit filius primogenitus: et matri similiter. Et si prior patre decesserit ejus filius, et ejus heres propinquior in eadem directa linea successionis hanc successionem obtinebit. Si vero nullus de linea primogeniti remanserit, filius post primum primogenitus, ut ejusdem lineæ propinquior decesserit, successionem hereditariam retinebit. Et similiter intelligendum est in aliis lineis postnatorum. Si vero omnes lineæ eorum decesserint, ad fratrem primogenitum redit successio feodalis, vel ad ejus lineæ propinquiorem. Si autem fratres defuerint, ex eorum linea redit ad patrem ex quo lineæ processerint. (Le Grand Cust. de Norm. c. 25.) I conclude this note with the modern French Canon—“The Law regulates the order of succession among lawful Heirs: for want of them, the property passes to the natural children, after that to the surviving Husband or Wife; and, for want of these, then, to the state.” (Code Napoleon, s. 720.)