Detection of infamy

9
But Lord John Drummond was by his attainder, oik
or before t;ie 18th of April, 1746, excluded from suc-
ceeding ; and much more so, because having never been
seised of the estate by charter and seisin, according to
the law of Scotland, he had, even supposing him able
to succeed on the death of his brother, only a personal
right for his life, and cauld not destroy by his attainder
the right of the other heirs of investiture, which in-
vestiture was a strict entail in favor of the heirs male
of the Perth family. The estate, however, was confis-
cated and annexed to the Crown until 1785, when
the forfeited estates in Scotland were ordered to be
restored to the heirs of the former owners.
The male line of James fourth E.arlof Perth havingfail?d
in 1763, the »ight of succession devolved upon the family
of Melfort — of which
John Earl of Melfort, and the first Duke of that
name, was twice married, \\z.
1. To Sophia, heiress of Lundin ; when, by peculiar
stipulations in the contract of their marriage, this John,
then called only John Drummond, was bound to assume
and bear the name and arms of the Lundin family ; which
were borne accordingly till the year 1766.
2. He was married secondly to Euphemia Wallace;,
and the children of this second marriage were entitled by
charter and royal patents, as well as by the dispositions
of the Earl of Meliort to all ids estates and honors. The
eldest son, who was called John, was in the lifetime of
his Father created Lord Forth, and the royal charter
which mentions that title is entered in the register of the
Scotch Parliament.
This Lord Forth never was attainted, and as such
there seems no ground for the adverse pa/ty of the Duke
of Melfort to hold up the attainder of tho Earl of Melfort,
pronounced by the Scots parliament in 1695, and to insist