The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

io8 THE HIGHLANDERS [parti
famih- of the clan next to the chief, and in many cases much
more powerful than even the family of the chief itself, in direct
opposition to the results produced when the feudal system
prevailed, in which case the youngest cadet, or the family
nearest to the main stem, was of most consideration and this
;
difference between the two systems produced, as we shall
afterwards see, a very remarkable result.
marrirfge.
a clan ; and
It has been not unfrequently remarked in the High-
1^"^! succcssion, that a bastard son is often found in the
undisturbed possession of the chiefship or property of
that in general when a feud has arisen from this
cause between the bastard and the feudal heir, the bastard has
the support of a great part of the clan. This, as might be ex-
pected, has hitherto been attributed to loose ideas of succession
among the Highlanders, or to the influence of some principle of
election ; but when we consider how very inflexible the notions
of the Highlanders were in matters of hereditarv right, it would
seem a more probable supposition that the Highland law of
marriage was originally very different from the feudal, and that
a person who was feudal!}- a bastard might in their view be con-
sidered legitimate, and therefore entitled to be supported in
accordance with their strict ideas of hereditar\' rio-ht and their
habitual tenacit\- of whatever belonged to their ancient usag-es.
There is accordingly a singular custom regarding marriage
retained to a very late period among the Highlanders, which
would seem to infer that their original law of marriage was
different from that of the feudal. This custom was termed hand-
fasting, and consisted in a species of contract between two chiefs,
by which it was agreed that the heir of the one should live with
the daughter of the other as her husband for twelve months and
a day. If in that time the lad\' became a mother, or proved to
be with child, the marriage became good in law, even although
no priest had performed the marriage ceremony in due form ;
but should there not have occurred any appearance of issue, the
contract was considered at an end, and each party was at liberty
to marry or handfast v.'ith an\- other. It is manifest that the
practice of so peculiar species of marriage must have been in
terms of the original law among the Highlanders, otherwise it
would be difficult to conceive how such a custom could have