is a person so called in the lifetime of his ancestor, at whose death he is heir at law.

HEIR-PRESUMPTIVE, is one who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would, in the present circumstances of things, be his heir; but whose right of inheritance may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born.

HEIR-LOOM (formed of heir and the Saxon loom, de-

noting limb or members) in our law-books, signifies such goods and personal chattels as are not inventoried after the owner's decease, but necessarily come to the heir along with the house.

Heir-loom comprehends divers implements; as tables, presses, cupboards, bedsteads, furnaces, wainscot, and such like; which in some countries have belonged to a house for certain descents, and are never inventoried after the decease of the owner, as chattels are, but accrue by custom, not by common law, to the heir, with the house itself. The ancient jewels of the crown are held to be heir-looms, and are not devisable by will, but descend to the next successor.