nsistently with this principle, the succession, when political
authority devolves, is according to the form of Primogeniture which
appears to have obtained among the Celtic societies. In the two great
Mahometan families of the West, the rule is believed to be, that the
uncle succeeds to the throne in preference to the nephew, though the
latter be the son of an elder brother; but though this rule has been
followed quite recently in Egypt, I am informed that there is some
doubt as to its governing the devolution of the Turkish sovereignty.
The policy of the Sultans has in fact hitherto prevented cases for its
application from occurring, and it is possible that their wholesale
massacres of their younger brothers may have been perpetuated quite as
much in the interest of their children as for the sake of making away
with dangerous competitors for the throne. It is evident, however,
that in polygamous societies the form of Primogeniture will always
tend to vary. Many considerations may constitute a claim on the
succession, the rank of the mother, for example, or her degree in the
affections of the father. Accordingly, some of the Indian Mahometan
sovereigns, without pretending to any distinct testamentary power,
claim the right of nominating the son who is to succeed. The
_blessing_ mentioned in the Scriptural history of Isaac and his sons
has sometimes been spoken of as a will, but it seems rather to have
been a mode of naming an eldest son.

CHAPTER VIII

THE EARLY HISTORY OF PROPERTY

The Roman Institutional Treatises, after giving their definition of
the various forms and modifications of ownership, proceed to discuss
the Natural Modes of Acquiring Property. Those who are unfamiliar with
the history of jurisprudence are not likely to look upon these
"natural modes" of acquisition as possessing, at first sight, either
much speculative or much practical interest. The wild animal which is
snared or killed by the hunter, the soil which is added to our field
by the imperceptible deposits of a river, the tree which strikes its
roots into our ground, are each said by the Roman lawyers to be
acquired by us _naturally_. The older jurisconsults had doubtless
observed that such acquisitions were universally sanctioned by the
usages of the little societies around them, and thus the lawyers of a
later age, finding them classed in the ancient Jus Gentium, and
perceiving them to be of the simplest description, allotted them