Cassillis peerage, 1760-4

30
Dune, 685.
Case of Buch-
an.
Objection.
Answer.
Realm, to transmit such Titles to the Heir Female,
where there was no Writ extant to exclude her.
This Case is reported by Durie, and the Decree
was pronounced in the King's Presence.
James Stewart was created Earl of Buchan
Anno 1469. His Grandson, John Earl of Buchan,
had two Sons, John and James. John died in the
Life of his Father, leaving a Daughter, Christian,
who succeeded her Grandfather, and was Countess
of Buchan ; she, by her Husband, Robert Douglas,
had Issue a Son, who died, leaving only one
Daughter, Mary, who, by the Name of Mary,
Countess of Buchan, was, on the 20th May 1615,
served Heir to her Grandmother, Christian, Coun-
tess of Buchan, there being then alive an Heir Male,
the Grandson of John Earl of Buchan, by James,
his second Son. In 1628, this Countess of Buchan
brought an Action for declaring her Precedency
against six or seven Earls who had been placed be-
fore her, and her Claim, founded on the Right of an
Heir Female to succeed to a Title without Patent,
was allowed by the Court of Session.
The only Objection, it is apprehended, that can
be made against the Doctrine here maintained is,
that Titles of Dignity are Masculine Fiefs by the
Law of Scotland, and have often so descended, and
were so held by the Court of Session in the Case
of Lovat.
The Female Succession is universally received in
Scotland, and there never were any Fiefs by their
Nature incapable of descending to Females; the
Crown was descendible to an Heir Female, and all
hereditary Offices have been so, even at. the strictest