diſpoſal, upon a principle of liberty in this, as well as every other, action: though perhaps it had not been amiſs, if the parent had been bound to leave them at the leaſt a neceſſary ſubſiſtence. By the cuſtom of London indeed, (which was formerly univerſal throughout the kingdom) the children of freemen are entitled to one third of their father's effects, to be equally divided among them; of which he cannot deprive them. And, among perſons of any rank or fortune, a competence is generally provided for younger children, and the bulk of the eſtate ſettled upon the eldeſt, by the marriage-articles. Heirs alſo, and children, are favourites of our courts of juſtice, and cannot be diſinherited by any dubious or ambiguous words; there being required the utmoſt certainty of the teſtator's intentions to take away the right of an heir[1].
From the duty of maintenance we may eaſily paſs to that of protection; which is alſo a natural duty, but rather permitted than enjoined by any municipal laws: nature, in this reſpect, working ſo ſtrongly as to need rather a check than a ſpur. A parent may, by our laws, maintain and uphold his children in their law-ſuits, without being guilty of the legal crime of maintaining quarrels[2]. A parent may alſo juſtify an aſſault and battery in defence of the perſons of his children[3]: nay, where a man's ſon was beaten by another boy, and the father went near a mile to find him, and there revenged his ſon's quarrel by beating the other boy, of which beating he afterwards unfortunately died; it was not held to be murder, but manſlaughter merely[4]. Such indulgence does the law ſhew to the frailty of human nature, and the workings of parental affection.
The laſt duty of parents to their children is that of giving them an education ſuitable to their ſtation in life: a duty pointed out by reaſon, and of far the greateſt importance of any. For, as Puffendorf very well obſerves[5], it is not eaſy to imagine or
