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•  403  OP  REAL  PROPEBTY.  [Part  VL

Alabama,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  MissoorL  I  draw  this  oon-
clasioQ,  because  the  inheritaDce  appears  to  be  giveo,  in  those
states,  to  the  brothers  and  sisters,  and  their  descendants,  or  chil-
dren,  before  recurrence  is  had  to  a  distinct  branch  of  the  grand-
parent's stock.  The  principle  on  which  the  rule  is  founded,  is,
that  collateral  kindred,  claiming  through  the  nearest  ancestor,
are  to  be  preferred  to  the  collateral  kindred  claiming  through  a
common  ancestor  more  remote.  The  claim  of  the*  nephew  is
through  the  intestate's  father,  and  of  the  uncle,  through  the  in-
testate's grandfather.
In  several  of  the  states,  as  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ver-
mont, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  there  is  no  representation
among  collaterals,  after  brothers'  and  sisters'  children  (a);  nor
in  Delaware,  after  brothers'  and  sisters'  grandchildren;  nor  in
Mississippi  after  the  descendants  of  brothers  and  sisters;  and  in
some  of  the  states,  as  in  New  Jersey,  there  does  not  appear  to  be
any  positive  provision  for  the  case.  In  Louisiana,  representation
is  admitted  in  the  collateral  line,  in  favour  of  the  children  and  de-
scendants of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  deceased  (6).
[  *403]  In  North  Carolina,  the  claimants  take  *per  stirpes^  in
every  case,  even  though  the  claimants  all  stand  in  equal
degree  of  consanguinity  to  the  common  ancestor,  and  so  do  the
descendants  of  brothers  and  sisters  by  the  law  of  descent  in
Alabama.
