attainted ſhall not only be incapable himſelf of inheriting, or tranſmitting his own property by heirſhip, but ſhall alſo obſtruct the deſcent of lands or tenements to his poſterity, in all caſes where they are obliged to derive their title through him from any remoter anceſtor. The chanel, which conveyed the hereditary blood from his anceſtors to him, is not only exhauſted for the preſent, but totally dammed up and rendered impervious for the future. This is a refinement upon the antient law of feuds, which allowed that the grandſon might be heir to his grandfather, though the ſon in the intermediate generation was guilty of felony[1]. But, by the law of England, a man's blood is ſo univerſally corrupted by attainder, that his ſons can neither inherit to him nor to any other anceſtor[2], at leaſt on the part of their attainted father.
This corruption of blood cannot be abſolutely removed but by authority of parliament. The king may excuſe the public puniſhment of an offender; but cannot aboliſh the private right, which has accrued or may accrue to individuals as a conſequence of the criminal's attainder. He may remit a forfeiture, in which the intereſt of the crown is alone concerned: but he cannot wipe away the corruption of blood; for therein a third perſon hath an intereſt, the lord who claims by eſcheat. If therefore a man hath a ſon, and is attainted, and afterwards pardoned by the king; this ſon can never inherit to his father, or father's anceſtors; becauſe his paternal blood, being once throughly corrupted by his father's attainder, muſt continue ſo: but if the ſon had been born after the pardon, he might inherit; becauſe by the pardon the father is made a new man, and may convey new inheritable blood to his after-born children[3].
Herein there is however a difference between aliens and perſons attainted. Of aliens, who could never by any poſſibility be heirs, the law takes no notice: and therefore we have ſeen,
