History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

STRATllERN, MONTEITH, AND AIRTH. 227
that of Monteith, but by uniting the Earldom of Proceedings
IN THE House
Monteith to that of Airtli. But the two Eaii- of Louds.
doms were united. Then, here is a new Earldom
Speech of the
created in favour of the Earl of Monteith and Lord Advocate,
* his heirs ;' in virtue of these Patents that then
existed, the Earl of Airth is to be entitled to the
Earldom of Monteith. Is this instrument, then,
to be read according to the ordinary construction
of the word 'heirs?' Is it to be taken that in
imiting those two Earldoms, the Crown could
have contemplated that one should descend to
' heirs male,' and the other to * heirs general?"
That is the supposition on the other side ^ : there
is to be a union of the two Earldoms. -I think
I am not pressing this stronger than I ought to
do. I am sensible I speak here as the adviser
of the House rather than an adverse party ; but
it is necessary for me to press the point only
sufficiently to bring it to your Lordships' atten-
tion. There is an union of the two Dignities.
On one supposition, the Dignity of Airth goes
to the 'heirs male;' and on supposition of its
going to the 'heirs male' you get rid of the
difficulty. By reading the words ' William Earl
1 Here the Lord Advocate again assumes that the per-
sonal Earldom of Monteith was destined to heirs male ; but it
must be repeated, that there is no evidence of tliat fact ; and
that the Crown states it to have been destined to heirs
general.
- Not so. The Claimant contends that both Earldoms were
limited to heirs general.
Q 9,