Tracts, legal and historical

97
teith, possessed " diinidietatem terrarum de Rusky,
cum messuagio" 1 while by another, dated the 20th
of January 1508, John Halden of Gleneagles, the
grandson and heir of her sister Agnes, is instructed
to have had the other half of Rusky " cum ma-
nerio," but without any mention of a messuage. 8
The term " messuage" being with us descriptive of
a house, and employed to designate the principal
mansion on an estate, 3 it would accordingly follow,
especially under the circumstances, that the Napiers
of Merchiston actually possessed the principal mes-
suage of Rusky ; which is obviously a fact of im-
portance, because it is well known that, both by
ancient and modern practice, the latter, in the case
of the succession of co-heirs, always devolved to
the eldest. Archibald, the son and heir of Eliza-
beth Menteith therefore, being possessed of the half
of Rusky cum messuagio, as far back as 1509, to
the exclusion, as would seem, of the heir of Agnes
Menteith, we might thence conclude that Eliza-
beth was her senior, and the principal representa-
tive of Rusky. It is further to be observed, that
although anciently the eldest co-heir had an un-
i Reg. Mag. Sig. Lib. 15, No. 1:37.
8 Ibid. No. 79.
3 " Messuagium — ane principal dwelling-place, or house with-
in a barronie.'' Skene, Glossar. sub hac voce. Spelman renders
it, " honestum quodvis domicilium sine praedio,'' and affirms that
" Messuagium" differs from " Massa (a portion of land) ut
pars a toto, situs Maneriia manerio." See his Glossary.
H