DESCENT, or Succession, in the law of Scotland. See LAW, Part III. No clxxx. clxxxi.
DESCENT of the Crown. See SUCCESSION.
DESCENT of Dignities. A dignity differs from common inheritances, and goes not according to the rules of the common law: for it descends to the half-blood; and there is no coparcenerhip in it, but the eldest takes the whole. The dignity of peerage is personal, annexed to the blood; and so inseparable, that it cannot be transferred to any person, or surrendered even to the crown: it can move neither forward nor backward, but only downward to posterity; and nothing but corruption of blood, as if the ancestor be attainted of treason or felony, can hinder the descent to the right heir.