Note 201 — Book VII.
John Beames translation
“And some have questioned,” says Justice Blackstone, “whether this restraint, which we may trace even from the ancient Germans, was not founded upon truer principles of policy, than the power of wantonly disinheriting the Heir by will, and transferring the Estate, through the dotage or caprice of the Ancestor, from those of his blood to utter strangers. For this, it is alleged, maintained the balance of property, and prevented one man growing too big or powerful for his neighbours.” (2 Bl. Comm. 373.)