After the family of the chief came the _ceantighes_, or heads of the subordinate houses into which the clan was divided, the most powerful of whom was the _toisich_, or toshach, who was generally the oldest cadet. This was a natural consequence of the law of _gavel_, which, producing a constant subdivision of the chief’s estate, until in actual extent of property he sometimes came to possess less than any of the other branches of the family, served in nearly the same proportion to aggrandise the latter, and hence that branch which had been longest separated from the original became relatively the most powerful. The _toshach_, military leader, or captain of the clan, certainly appears to have been at first elected to his office among the Celtic nations, as indeed were all the dignitaries who at a later period among the Highlanders succeeded to their positions according to fixed laws.[130] As war was the principal occupation of all the early Celtic nations, the office of _toshach_, or “war-king,” as Mr Robertson calls him, was one of supreme importance, and gave the holder of it many opportunities of converting it into one of permanent kingship although the Celts carefully guarded against this by enforcing the principle of divided authority among their chiefs, and thus maintaining the “balance of power.” The _toshach’s_ duties were strictly military, he having nothing to do with the internal affairs of the tribe or nation, these being regulated by a magistrate, judge, or _vergobreith_, elected annually, and invested with regal authority and the power of life and death. It would appear that the duties of _toshach_ sometimes devolved on the _tanist_, though this appears to have seldom been the case among the Highlanders.[131] From a very early time the oldest cadet held the highest rank in the clan, next to the chief; and when the clan took the field he occupied, as a matter of right, the principal post of honour. On the march he headed the van, and in battle took his station on the right; he was, in fact, the lieutenant-general of the chief, and when the latter was absent he commanded the whole clan.[132] Another function exercised by the oldest cadet was that of _maor_, or steward, the principal business of which officer was to collect the revenues of the chief; but, after the feudal customs were introduced, this duty devolved upon the baron-bailie, and the _maor_ consequently discontinued his fiscal labours.