History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

STRATHERN, MONTEITH, AND AIRTH, 217
ence? I would also submit with confidence, proceedings
IN THE House
that even if instead of the destination of the of Lords.
13th Aug. 1839.
Earldom of Monteith having been described in gpeechofsir
that Patent to have been to Earl Malise and Hams Nicolas.
his 'heirs,' its destination had not been men-
tioned, and if there had been clauses, framed in
the strongest terms, annexing not Monteith to
Airth, but Airth to Monteith, with the same des-
tination to ' heirs,' and prohibiting a severance
of the Dignities ; still the legal presumption would
be, that the Earldom of Monteith was destined
to ' heirs general,' which presumption would
prevail until the Charter limiting the Dignity
of Monteith to 'heirs male' was actually pro-
duced in evidence. But in the case before your
Lordships, I have shown that there is almost
a moral certainty that the Earldom of Mon-
teith was (as the Crown itself has stated it to
liave been) granted to Earl Malise and his heirs.
*' The Pedigree is so satisfactorily proved that
it will not require many observations. Having
shown that the Earldom of Airth was created
to the Earl of Monteith and his heirs, I
shall proceed to show that the Claimant is the
sole heir of the grantee. It would be sufficient
to prove that he is descended from the elder
sister of the last Earl ; but the extinction of the
heirs of the other sister has been fully esta-
blished. It has been proved that the Dignity
of Airth was granted to William Earl of Mon-