The legal rules by which inheritances are regulated. and according to which estates are transmitted by descent from the ancestor to the heir. 2 Bl. Comm. 208. 3. A dignitary of the English church, being a prebendary or member of a cathedral chapter. 4. In the civil. Spanish, and Mexican law, an annual charge or rent; an emphyteutic rent. 5. In old English records, a prestation, pension, or customary payment.