| dc.description.abstract | Under the fee tail arrangement at work in Downton Abbey,
known as a fee tail male, possession of the property passes from the
first grantee of the entailed estate, who (of course) is a male, to his
lineal male heirs. Because of rules of primogeniture prevailing at the
time, the estate passed to the grantee's oldest son. Then that male
heir passes the estate on to his oldest son, who passes it to his oldest
son, and so on. But what if the fifth lucky fellow in this chain has no
sons? In that sad state of affairs, the estate will hunt around for
another male heir in the lineage from the original grantee of the
estate in fee tail male. If there are no such heirs, the estate reverts to
the original grantor (or his assignees or heirs). Either way, the wife
and daughters of the gentleman in this predicament are out of luck,
which illustrates the point of the fee tail-to prevent the estate from
leaking outside the family. | en_US |
