[ANSTHRLD] Heraldic Heirs

Tim McDaniel tmcd at panix.com
Thu Feb 5 08:54:38 PST 2009


On Thu, 5 Feb 2009, Coblaith Muimnech <Coblaith at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Tostig wrote:
>> (1) How do they notify Laurel they are the POC as heraldic heirs? 
>
> Daniel de Linccolne wrote:
>> Why would they notify Laurel they are the POC as heraldic heirs?
>
> Maybe they're taking pity on those of us who with distressing
> regularity find ourselves searching in vain for one gentle or
> another who registered armory 30 years ago in order to request
> permission to conflict.  Should the gentle in question have shuffled
> off the mortal coil, a note in the O&A saying, "Name and armory
> inherited January 2001 by Zuane Tron," or something similar could be
> a significant boon.  And the situation isn't going to get less
> common as the Society ages, unless some major rules changes are
> enacted.

I considered being picky about the commonly-misunderstood term "heir",
but decided not to.  That may have been wrong.  I've been assuming
that we're talking about an "heir presumptive", someone who may become
an heir in the future.  "Nemo est hares viventis": 'no man is heir of
the living'.

     NEMO EST HARES VIVENTIS

     The sense of the maxim's apparent,
     For, no matter how you contrive,
     No person is heir to his parent
     As long as his parent's alive.

     But he who was but heir apparent
     Upon his late parent's decease,
     At once becomes heir to his parent,
     For the rule and its reason then cease.

     OR

     Nemo est hares viventis
     By this maxim what's really meant is,
     When a man is alive
     By no means you contrive
     Can you prophesy what descent is.

<http://www.archive.org/stream/lawlyrics00armouoft/lawlyrics00armouoft_djvu.txt>
(The poetry was doggerel, but I quite like the dedication, to whoever
pays money for the book, and "to the reader" at the start, telling him
to give the book a place, whether on the shelf or in the trashcan, "it
doesn't matter which".)

For the heir presumptive (the owner is living): I don't know why
anyone needs to inform Laurel of a real-world will, I don't know of an
existing procedure, and I don't know how we'd track codicils.  But SCA
heraldic wills are sent up according to the Admin Handbook.

For the heir of a dead man: inheritance in SCA heraldry is a transfer
done when the will (heraldic or real-world) is executed.  The item is
listed under the new owner's name; as with any transfer, the prior
ownership is listed with a termination date (and the new owner's
name).

Danielis Lindocollinum
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com


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