interest in it; the son is tenant-in-tail. The son cannot sell the estate without the consent of the father, though he can dispose of his own prospective and contingent interest. The father can still less deal with the property without the consent of the son. If the father should die before the son, without having made any fresh arrangement, the property will vest absolutely in the son, and, by executing a simple disentailing deed, he can convert his estate-tail into a fee … and deal with the property as he likes. On the other hand, if the son should die before the father, the property will, upon the death of the father, descend to the grandson, if there be any, or to the second son if there be no issue of the eldest son. The eldest son, therefore, is certain to obtain possession of the property if he should survive his father; he is not, however, entitled at law to any provision during his father's lifetime. It ordinarily happens, therefore, that when the eldest son comes of age, the father … makes a bargain with him. He promises to make the son an adequate provision during his, the father's lifetime; he also enables his son to make certain provision for marriage, by charging the estate with an annuity for his widow, or with portions for the younger children; in return for this the son agrees to join in re-settling the estate, taking in lieu of his remainder in-tail a reversionary life-interest after that of his father; and the ultimate remainder intail is then given to the unborn grandson—in other words, the entail is carried forward to another generation … and no further arrangement can be made till a grandson is born and in his turn comes of age" ("English and Irish Land Questions," pp. 83-84).
"By such a process … the bulk of the family estates in this country are kept in settlement from one generation to another, the new fetter being added at that epoch at which the power of alienation arises" (Williams, "Principles of Real Property Law," p. 273).
"It is believed," adds Shaw-Lefevre, "that in most cases the heir who has consented to make this arrangement with his father on coming of age lives to regret it; instead of coming into the property … with full dominion over it, and with power of disposing of it …
