No Entail Here
Posted by Caroline on April 09, 1998 at 15:53:37:
In response to I don't know , written by Jimmy on April 09, 1998 at 12:44:20
The estate would have been entailed to specifics of previous owners and illegitimate heirs were never allowed a proper inheritance...can you imagine if all the illegitimate children of those noblemen were allowed to inherit after proof of relations?
Actually, although entails were common, they were not universal.Inheritance by the eldest son, though normal, was not a hard and fast rule either.Elder sons could be disinherited relatively easily.The fact is that Allworthy had the right to dispose of his estate in any way that he wished...to give it all to one, to split it up, whatever.
Whilst Tom is illegitimate, he has no right to claim anything:it all goes to Blifil.When he is recognised as Bridget's eldest child, he can claim through her, and has a greater right to claim than does Blifil.Allworthy would want the estate to remain whole , but he could will it to whomsoever he wishes.He makes this clear when he explains to Capt. Blifil before Bridget's marriage, that he intends to give the estate to Tom, unless Bridget has legitimate children.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
