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“Do you mean an entail that is placed on a family estate?”
“Something like that, I believe.”
“Well, I can explain it to you this way. You know that among old, titled families, the title passes to the next male heir, even if he’s not the son of the current titleholder.”
“Like if a father had only girls, and he was, I don’t know, maybe an earl, then the daughters could not become earls themselves?”
“Correct,” said the officer. “Someone else—someone male—would become earl when the present earl died. A nephew, a cousin or whoever was next in line.
“But it became common,” the Lieutenant explained, “for some of the wealthiest of the titled families to legally tie the title to the assets—the land and income that supports the title. That’s called an entail. If an estate is entailed, when the title passes, the assetsmustgo with the title. It’s pretty commonplace. Otherwise, you’d have a lot of impoverished fellows with grand titles but no assets to support them.”
“Are there estates that aren’t entailed?”
“Oh, certainly. In the case we were describing, if the estate wasn’t entailed, the earl’s daughter would probably marry, and she would bring all or almost all of her father’s assets to her husband as her dowry. The husband wouldn’t get the title, but he’d get the assets. The nephew would get the title, but none or almost none of the assets. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, it does, I believe. Thank you for explaining it to me so clearly.”
“I’m afraid I’m no lawyer,” laughed the Lieutenant. “But my father was a barrister, so perhaps I learned a few things from him.”
I must think this through,Ace reasoned.If Baron Roster is discussing with Johnny Shiemour that there’s no entail on the Dukedom of Clover, he probably has some scheme in mind that affects the Clovers. And probably not in a good way.
Within days, the ship docked in Lisbon. He was on his way home to Josie.
