xvi.] DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND. 69 



This method is said to have been invented by Sir 

 Orlando Bridgman, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, and other 

 eminent counsel, who betook themselves to con- 

 veyancing during the time of the civil wars, in order 

 to secure in family settlements a provision for the 

 future children of an intended marriage, who, before, 

 were usually left to the mercy of a particular tenant 

 for life ; and when, after the Restoration, those gen- 

 tlemen came to fill the first offices of the law, they 

 supported their invention within reasonable and 

 proper bounds, and introduced it into general use." 



It appears, therefore, that Bridgman and Palmer 

 merely introduced a clause into some strict settle- 

 ments, making them somewhat more strict than they 

 otherwise would have been, and that these perversely 

 intellectual lawyers were far removed from being the 

 inventors of strict settlements. 



I propose to consider in the next chapter whether 

 the invention of trustees to preserve contingent 

 remainders can have produced the disastrous effects 

 attributed to the perverse ingenuity of Palmer and 

 Bridgman by Professor Rogers. 



