History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

240 HISTORY OF THE EARLDOMS OF
PRocEEniNGs struction of the word * heirs/ to the descrip-
IN THE House ^
OF Lords. tioii of heirs in the former Patent, namely, to
ISih Aug. 1839.
^ ^ , MaHse and his ' heirs male,' and that this must
Speech of the
Lord Advocate, be held to be to William and all his ' heirs
male.' ^
*' These are the observations which mainly occur
to me. It is sufficient if I have so far explained
myself to present the question for your Lord-
ships' consideration. At least, I have no desire
to interfere further. I know my duty here is
rather as an adviser of the House, than as occu-
pying the place of an adversary in the matter ;
and, having brought the matter before your Lord-
ships, I leave it to your discretion, not proposing
to argue it at length, but hoping your Lordships
will see that I have been justified in interfering."
The Committee was then adjourned to Thurs-
day the 15th of August, on which day the Com-
mittee again met ; and the Counsel for Mr. Bar-
clay Allardice stating that they wished to pro-
duce other documents in support of his Claim,
leave was given them to do so ; and the further
proceedings were adjourned to the next session
of Parliament.
1 According to this argument, tlie Earldom of Airth
must have been granted neither to the heirs general, nor to
the heirs male of William Earl of Monteith, but to the
"heirs" mentioned in the Charter of the lands of Craynis,
id est, to the heirs male of the body of Malise Earl of Mon-
teith, who lived two centuries before the date of the Patent.
See the remarks on this point in pp. 101 — 105. ante.