egitimate and is alive, and whom they have omitted. Judgment of
the omission.'

"_Sutton_: 'Sir, even if he had made a quit-claim to him, yet that could
not be a bar to us, because by the custom of the country the youngest
shall have his inheritance, wherefore there is no need to make mention
of him.'

"_Asseby_: 'Sir, he has brought a writ at common law; judgment if he
ought not to be answered at common law, and if he (the demandant) can
allege the custom.'

"_Sutton_: 'In many places in England a woman demands her dower by the
writ "Unde nihil habet," which is a writ at common law, and yet,
according to the custom of the country, she will recover for her dower a
moiety of the tenements which belonged to her husband, where by common
law she would have only the third part, and also in the case of
tenements in some countries which are holden by knight-service the lord
can avow the taking as good for cornage according to the law of the
country; and yet the writ is at common law. And also in Gavelkind
according to the custom [of Kent] the younger brother shall have as much
as the elder; and yet one brother shall recover against the other
brother by right "De rationabile parte," and by the "Nuper obiit," which
are writs at common law. So in the present case.'

"_Metingham_ [the judge]: 'Asseby, answer.'"

Now what was this custom? It is that known as "Borough English," and the
reader will have already inferred from the report of the action that,
wherever it prevailed, the youngest son claimed to succeed to his
father's estate. It is therefore the antithesis of the right of
primogeniture, whereby real estate falls to the eldest son. An old
record given to print by the late Mr. Robert Dymond, F.S.A., exhibits in
great detail the customs of the Manor of Braunton, in Devonshire, and
among them is that of Borough English, or, as it is termed in local
parlance, "cradle-land." This testimony is of peculiar interest, since
the document comprises a provision for the assignment of the property in
the not wholly improbable event of the family consisting entirely of
daughters. The section touching upon Borough English is thus formulated:

"HEIRS OF THE YOUNGEST HOLDING

"_Item_, the Custome ys in every of the sayd manors that if eny manner
of person or persons be seased of eny manner of land or tenements, rents
or premises of the yonger holdyng liying withyn eny of the seid manors
or liberties in fee symple or in fe tayle, in