Inquiring readers: Raquel Sallaberry from Jane Austen em Portugues sent the link to this post on Promantica about the entail in Downton Abbey entitled “Downton Abbey Fans – Welcome to the MOST Boring Law School Class.” The title is not exactly descriptive, for this wonderful post explains in great detail why the entail cannot be superceded, why Cora’s money is tied up and Lady Mary cannot inherit, and why Matthew Crawley cannot relinquish the title.
The Earl of Grantham and Matthew Crawley walk around the grounds of Downton Abbey
Magdalen, one of the blog contributors, introduces the expert:
By special request, I have asked my ex-husband to help us understand the law of the entail, critical to the plot of Downton Abbey. Henry is a) British, b) an attorney, c) smart, and d) the son and grandson of QCs, i.e., barristers (British attorneys who appear in court) selected to be “Queen’s Counsel.” (Although, to be fair, I think Henry’s grandfather took silk — Britspeak for becoming a QC — long enough ago that he was actually King’s Counsel!)
First off, what’s an entail?
It is a limitation on the current tenant’s (in our case, the 6th Earl of Grantham) ownership interest in the estate. If he owned Downton Abbey outright, he would have a fee simple. Instead, he has a fee tail, which gives him a life interest so he can’t be evicted in his lifetime, but not the right to say who gets Downton Abbey after he dies.
The Earl of Grantham summarizes the situation best: "I'm a custodian, not an owner."
Okay, so how would an entail work?
The normal entail would be to “the 6th earl and heirs of his body” (meaning his legitimate biological children) or “and heirs male of his body” or “and heirs male of his body to be begotten on Cora.” When the 6th earl had no sons, the second and third of those would terminate, allowing the 6th earl to dispose of the money by will. The first would allow a daughter to inherit, but I’m not sure if it would pass to Mary or to the three daughters jointly or in shares…To read the rest of this fascinating post, please click on this link to Promantica.
Thank you, Raquel (and Magdalen and Henry). This article is fascinating, fun to read, and very, very informative.
Read this blog’s other posts about Downton Abbey:
- Watch Downton Abbey Online (From January 10 until February 22, 2011)
- Downton Abbey’s Recycled Costumes
- The Jane Austen Connection to Downton Abbey and Egypt
- Entertaining visitors in an English country house, such as Downton Abbey
- Downstairs in Downton Abbey: The Servants
- Upstairs in Downton Abbey: The Three Crawley Sisters
Jane Austen's World 
Just wondering what the current law of the entail is today; when and if it changed, and how so or at least to what degree.
It seems to be separate from other laws that affected women in the 19th century, such as those that came about due to Caroline Norton and her divorce and custody of her children.
This entry is from the Columbia Encyclopedia:
In England the entail became common in the early 13th cent., and in its most usual form was a conveyance by a grantor (owner) of real property to a grantee and the “heirs of his body,” i.e., his lawful offspring, in successive generations. In the inheritance the rule of primogeniture was observed. The subsequent development of the entail reflects a continuing struggle between the effort to preserve large estates and the need for free alienation. By the mid-13th cent. the courts interpreted the birth of a live baby as the satisfaction of a condition that vested the grantee with the power of alienation. This result was overcome by the statute De donis conditionalibus [conditional gifts] (1285), which gave effect to the grantor’s intent. In time the grantee was able to get control of the property despite the statutory prohibition by use of the fine and other technical legal devices. Current English law permits the holder of entailed property (either real or personal) to dispose of it by deed; otherwise the entail persists. In the United States for the most part entails are either altogether prohibited or limited to a single generation.
[…] Update: Read more about the entail as explained by a British lawyer named Henry in a post I titled: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Entail in Downton Abbey and More. […]
Just thought you would all like to know. That scurrilous rag, The Daily Mail, that upset everybody, from PBS executives, the lovely, wonderful, American public as well as the cast of Downton Abbey and the new version of Upstairs Downstairs is giving away, with every daily edition next week, free copies of the original Upstairs Downstairs series.
Um!!!! I wonder why?
After seeing the first of the series about Downton Abbey and reviewing entail. etc, I still don’t understand what will happen to the estate should no heir be available. What is the dilemma here and what are the various parties trying to do or prevent?
I am not a lawyer, but this is what I understand: The problem in this instance is that Matthew, as the third cousin once removed, IS the new heir. He cannot break the entail because his right to inherit is conditional. The earl could still sire a son, you see, and that son would become the heir, superseding Matthew.
So Matthew’s hands are tied. He has a promise of becoming the heir without a 100% guarantee.
An entail cannot be broken unless a great fraud can be shown to have occurred, which it did not.
Now, if there is no male heir in the family (let’s say the earl suffered an unfortunate injury) and the entail was somehow broken, then the earl could will his estate to his eldest daughter, or he could choose to divide it up among his three daughters, or he could choose to give it to Lady Edith instead.
However, since virile men have been known to sire children as late as in their 70s (think Tony Randall and Yves Montand), the possibility of this earl (who is still rather young) siring another child is out there, especially if Cora died and he remarried. And, of course, the entire purpose of the entail was to will the estate to a male and to keep it intact.
In our own life times we and the rest of the world witnessed the happy out come of the successful Royal version of the entail being fulfilled when Lady Diana produced, “an heir and a spare,” then, her work was done. There must be a comparison in the animal or insect world.
I hear you say, “heir and a spare,”, yes, that is the jolly phrase the aristocracy and royalty use when the female of the partnership has done “her lifes work.” First it is to produce an heir and so so much better if a spare is produced too.The female of the species is not really required after that.They have a lovely way with things don’t you think?
I have not seen Downton. Haven’t they used that phrase yet? I’m surprised if they haven’t.
Tony, I am not sure the phrase was used in this mini-series, but it certainly is well-known on this side of the Pond!
Vic, I love your website! It has certainly been a useful resource and also simply a fun way to while away the hours.
Your post here has led me to another question: how much work was involved in the day-to-day running of the estate? I guess that would depend on the size of the estate and the number of tenants to a certain extent. The reason I ask is because I wonder, if the entail somehow magically had been broken, would Lady Mary be equipped to run the estate? It doesn’t sound like ladies of the time were trained to handle the business affairs, so would it really be her husband or a steward (did they still have those?) who made the decisions or would her father start trying to involve her as his heir?
Thank you, Ariadne. While many dowagers have shown themselves to be capable of running their deceased husband’s estate (if they inherited it), they usually did so with the help of a steward and man of business! One would assume that Lady Mary would have done the same until she married, then her husband would have taken over its management, unless she had “modern” ideas, like her sister, Isabel.
And as a practising lawyer, not one whose grandparents were lawyers, I think you’ll find this precis is rather more accurate
http://obiterj.blogspot.com/2011/08/downton-abbey-entail.html
The entail could have been broken. And there could have been no entail of the personalty ie all the actual money!
I’m so happy to have found this site. I had many questions about the Entail and now I can learn more about it. PBS is starting a reshowing of the first season tonight in preparation for the second season. Thank you for putting up this site.
I have learn about the definition of entail on this site. I have watch “Dalton Abby” so many times to understand the plot.
Note to Magdelen: Your ex-husband sounds like a great catch! I would never have divorced him! (if I were a female!)
T/
[…] of a third cousin once removed, Matthew Crawley, a solicitor from Manchester, due to the strict entail left by the Earl’s late father. The arc of Season 1 is spent in a […]
[…] seems absolutely calm in comparison to the second. While the first season dealt mostly with the entail and the developing relationship between Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley, the second season sees all […]
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Background for Downton Abbey Fans
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