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1 1 6 Fountain of Honours, S^x. [Cli. VIII. better opinion seems to be, that tlie effect of a writ of summon* in a case of this kind, is only to terminate the abeyance as to the person summoned, and the heirs of his or her body ; and that, upon failure of heirs of the body of the person so sum- moned, the barony will again fall into abeyance, between the remaining heirs of the body of the original coheir, one of whose heirs was so summoned, if any, and the heirs of the bo- dy of the other coheir {a). This latter opinion is founded upon a principle of law, that possession does not affect the descent of a dignity, and that a writ of summons to Parliament by an antient title, (as the summons of the eldest son of a peer in the lifetime of his fa- ther, by the name of an antient barony then vested in the father,) will not operate, so as to give any title by descent, col- lateral or lineal, diflferent from the course of descent of the antient barony, and that he who claims a dignity must make himself heir to the person on whom the dignity was originally conferred, not to the person who last enjoy- ed it {h). Dignities are not within the statute of limitations, and may, consequently, be claimed at any distance of time ; and there are instances of claims being recognized after the dignities had been dormant for some centuries (c). If a peer be disturbed in his dignity, the regular course, says- Lord Holt [d is to petition the King, and the King indorses it, and send* it into the Chancery or the House of Peers, for the Lords have no power to judge of peerage, unless it be given ta them by the King [e). Such persons as are not noble, are, by intendment of law, among the Cammotis (/) ; but even these latter are, by law, di- vided into several degrees {g)« We have here only to consider such as are constituted by the royal authority. To borrow Sir Wm. Blackstone's observations {h) on this subject, " The first personal dignity after the nobility is a Knight of the Order of (a) 3 Cruise Dig. 253. (<?) 11 Co. 1. Delaware's Case. W. (i) Ibid. Jon. 96. (c) Skin. R. 437. Collins, 323. 11 (/) Co. Lit. 16, b. Rep. 1. 4 Inst. 335. 2 Bro.. Pari. (g) 1 Bla. Com. 403. Cas. 167, 8. 3 Cruise Dig. 274. {h) Ibid. 403, 4, id} 1 Ld. Raym. 16. St I