Paper on the Mar peerage

in 1672; but the Earldom has continued to the present
day without an acre of the ancient estate of the Earldom.
But it may here be stated that the decree in the time of
the Baliol and Bruce competition, in 1290, proved that the
ancient Earldoms were divisible among female co-heirs, the
elder inheriting the title and estates, the younger getting a
portion, ex gratia.
Margaret, Countess of Angus in her own right, gave
lands to her sister, Elizabeth Hamilton, but the Earldom
went to her son. It would be useless to quote more of the
numerous instances.
In conclusion, it may be remarked, that any number of
opinions in our days regarding the ancient Earldom having
somehow become extinct before Queen Mary's reign by the
alienation of a part of the original territories of the Earl-
dom, cannot avail against the Queen's own declaration of
a strong desire to do justice, and her consequent grant of
restoration to John, Lord Erskine, recounting his iniquitous
treatment by her ancestors, and proving by this Charter
her determination to establish his long suspended right,
after a hundred and thirty years of oppression and suppres-
sion. Surely the ancient honours and privileges of a dis-
tinguished family cannot be presumed to be on trial, and
taken from them or suspended on conjecture ? — disowning
or misinterpreting the proofs of his case.
Note. — A man of rank, but not great in law, being ap-
pointed to the bench in the West Indies, said he was
afraid he could not well explain the reasons for his judg-
ments. The advice he got was, " Give your judgments,
but don't give your reasons. You may possibly be right,
but your reasons may be wrong. You may get into a diffi-
culty."