52 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [xii. 



of the gift/' should be observed, and the purchaser 

 would be without remedy, except perhaps under 

 a clause of " warranty." Creditors by securities 

 binding the heir might be defeated in the same 

 manner, and the Crown and other lords might be 

 disappointed, in rare cases, of forfeiture and escheats 

 for treason or felony. 



That these were the real evils which arose from the 

 statute, and that it did not produce the pernicious 

 consequences either to the nobility, the esquires or 

 the other freeholders of England which are fre- 

 quently attributed to it, we have thus given reason 

 to believe by the testimony of Lord Coke and Lord 

 Macaulay. 



Scotland had no statute corresponding to our 

 statute De Donis, but attempts were made in that 

 country to establish strict entails by clauses of 

 " irritancy and resolution," purporting to make void 

 alienation, but the validity of such clauses had by 

 no means been admitted before the act of 1685, 

 c. 22, which expressly recognises -their authority, and 

 the absolute right of heirs to succeed according to 

 the disposition of the entailer, Erskine Inst., Book 

 iii. Tit. viii. 25, and this law with no very important 

 modifications remained in force until 1848, when by 

 11 and 12 Vic., c. 36 1, tenant in tail in possession 

 was empowered to acquire the fee simple, if born 

 after the deed of entail was executed, at his own 



