History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

STRATHERN, MONTEITH, AND AIRTH. 225
one free Earldom, in favour of William Earl of Proceedings
IN THE House
Monteith and his heirs." of Lords.
T 1 • 1 • • /-(I 1-1 I3thAug.l839.
" It begms by reciting a Charter which, upon h f he
the supposition I now argue, gave the lands to Lord Advocate,
Malise Earl of Monteith and ' his heirs male.*
Then, after the recital, ' We, being willing to
erect this land into a new barony in favour of
William Earl of Monteith and his heirs,' it
proceeds to do so. Now, who are his heirs ?
Does it mean the heirs of the body, — stopping
here, before we get to the rest of this very
complex and singular instrument, — are they the
* heirs of the body' or the ' heirs whatsoever' of
the Earl of Monteith? I think the circumstance
of referring to the particular grant of the Earl-
dom of Monteith, which is to him and ' his heirs
male',' is strong evidence of an intention to erect
these lands into an Earldom with the same suc-
cession, the Patent saying * heirs whatsoever,'
not using the words ' heirs of line^,' which would
' If the reference had been merely to a particular Charter,
of which the existence and identity are indisputable, and if
the Patent of 1633 had not recited the limitation in the
Charter referred to, the Lord Advocate's argument would have
been cogent; but the presumption of identity of the Charter
of the lands of Craynis, with the Instrument alluded to in
the Patent of 1633, is rebutted by the description there
given of it; and by the Patent expressly stating that the
Charter to which it refers contained a destination, not to the
heirs male, but to the heirs of Earl Malise.
2 It is true that the destination throughout is simply to
William Earl of Monteith and " his heirs ; " but, in de-
ft