At common law. A person who succeeds, by the rules of law, to an estate in lands, tenements, or hereditaments, upon the death of his ancestor, by descent and right of relationship. Hoover v. Smith, 96 Md. 393, 54 Atl. 102; Fletcher v. Holmes, 32 Ind. 510; Sewall v. Roberts, 115 Mass. 268; Dodge’s Appeal, 106 Pa. 216, 51 Am. Rep. 519; Howell v. Gifford, 64 N. J. Eq. 180, 53 Atl. 1074
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
