History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

STRATHEUN, MONTEITH, AND AIRTH. 231
settlement or entail. Upon this head it may be Proceedings
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premised, that though by the word ' heu', in the of Lords.
most proper signification, the heir at law is un- "^'
^ ^. . '^ . Speech of the
derstood, it is certain that that general term Lord Advocate.
has not always one fixed signification, but varies
according to the nature of the subject, or of
the security or other circumstances ; signifying
sometimes heir at law, sometimes heir of con-
quest, sometimes heir in mohilibus or executors.
It is a term that is remarkably susceptible of
explanation in the law of Scotland."
Then, my Lords, a doubt arising on this
instrument, before looking to the Charter of
1428, if your Lordships are satisfied that the
Earldom of Monteith was granted by the Pa-
tent of 1428 to heirs male, I conceive it would
be impossible to construe this consistently with
common sense into a grant other than to Wil-
liam Earl of Monteith and his ' heirs male ; '
for how can the Crown possibly make an an-
nexation of two Earldoms with successions in
consequence of which they might be disunited
to-morrow by the ordinary rules of descent,
and which would produce an inconsistency as to
the Place and Precedency? No doubt, if we
had been able to discover any terms in the grant
importing that it was to him and * his heirs
whatsoever,' or to him and his * heirs of line,'
that circumstance would have weighed against
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