Entailed property is usually inherited by male primogeniture, in more or less the same way as are some titles of nobility --i.e. by the nearest male-line descendant (son of son, etc) of the original owner of the estate or title, whose ancestry in each generation goes through the eldest son who has left living male-line descendants (thus the male-line descendants of the second son of an owner will not have a chance to inherit until all the male-line descendants of the eldest son have died out). So, for example, Mr. Elliot is the heir to Sir Walter in Persuasion. Entailment also prevents a father from disinheriting his eldest son -- a factor in Lady Susan (father to son: "You know... that it is out of my power to prevent your inheriting the family Estate."). Women generally inherit only if there are no male-line heirs left, and if there is more than one sister, and then they are all equal co-heiresses, rather than only the eldest inheriting.

    The following diagram may help illustrate the mysterious workings of such an entail; the original possessor of the estate is at the top of the diagram, males are denoted by "M", females by "F", the current (male) owner of the estate by "X", siblings are arranged left-to-right from eldest to youngest, and the potential heirs to the estate upon the death of "X" are numbered in the order of succession (potential co-heiress-ships are shown by several women being given the same number):

                                                              M (dead)

                                                                   |

                                 +----------------------------------------------------+

                                  |                   |                     |                      |

                           M (dead)          F (12)            M (7)               M (9)

                                 |                                          |

  +---------------------------------------------+            M (8)

   |          |                 |              |             |

X       M (1)        F (11)      M (5)       F (1)
 |                             |             |

+--------+          +----------+ M (6)

 |           |           |              |

F(10) F(10)     M(2)      M(4)

                        |

                     M (3)

    Note that the technical interpretation of this chart is that, given this family configuration, the individual numbered (1) is the immediate heir of the man labelled "X"; but if (1) died before "X", then (2) would be X's immediate heir, and if (1) and (2) died before "X", then (3) would be X's immediate heir, and so on down the line (i.e. if all individuals labelled with numbers (1)-(11) were to die before "X", then the individual numbered (12) would be X's immediate heir).
 
 

* Accomplishments / * Feminism in Jane Austen / * Marriage and the alternatives: the status of women / * Legalities of marriage / * Money and marriage / * "Settlements" / * Entail and inheritance / * Legal motivation for entails / * Legal aspects of entails / * Attitudes to the entail in Pride and Prejudice / * "Sister" and "Brother"; "Alliance" / *Return