Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/271

 Ch. 15. that an alien elder brother hall not impede the decent to a natural-born younger brother. But in attainders it is otherwie: for if a man hath iue a on, and is attainted, and afterwards pardoned, and then hath iue a econd on, and dies; here the corruption of blood is not removed from the eldet, and therefore he cannot be heir: neither can the younget be heir, for he hath an elder brother living, of whom the law takes notice, as he once had a poibility of being heir; and therefore the younger brother hall not inherit, but the land hall echeat to the lord: though, had the elder died without iue in the life of the father, the younger on born after the pardon might well have inherited, for he hath no corruption of blood. So if a man hath iue two ons, and the elder in the lifetime of the father hath iue, and then is attainted and executed, and afterwards the father dies, the lands of the father hall not decend to the younger on: for the iue of the elder, which had once a poibility to inherit, hall impede the decent to the younger, and the land hall echeat to the lord. Sir Edward Coke in this cae allows, that if the ancetor be attainted, his ons born before the attainder may be heirs to each other; and ditinguihes it from the cae of the ons of an alien, becaue in this cae the blood was inheritable when imparted to them from the father: but he makes a doubt (upon the ame principles, which are now overruled ) whether ons, born after the attainder, can inherit to each other; for they never had any inheritable blood in them.

the whole it appears, that a peron attainted is neither allowed to retain his former etate, nor to inherit any future one, nor to tranmit any inheritance to his iue, either immediately from himelf, or mediately through himelf from any remoter ancetor; for his inheritable blood, which is neceary either to hold, to take, or to tranmit any feodal property, is blotted out, corrupted, and extinguihed for ever: the conequence of which is, that etates, thus impeded in their decent, reult back and echeat to the lord. Rh