that an alien elder brother ſhall not impede the deſcent to a natural-born younger brother. But in attainders it is otherwiſe: for if a man hath iſſue a ſon, and is attainted, and afterwards pardoned, and then hath iſſue a ſecond ſon, and dies; here the corruption of blood is not removed from the eldeſt, and therefore he cannot be heir: neither can the youngeſt be heir, for he hath an elder brother living, of whom the law takes notice, as he once had a poſſibility of being heir; and therefore the younger brother ſhall not inherit, but the land ſhall eſcheat to the lord: though, had the elder died without iſſue in the life of the father, the younger ſon born after the pardon might well have inherited, for he hath no corruption of blood[1]. So if a man hath iſſue two ſons, and the elder in the lifetime of the father hath iſſue, and then is attainted and executed, and afterwards the father dies, the lands of the father ſhall not deſcend to the younger ſon: for the iſſue of the elder, which had once a poſſibility to inherit, ſhall impede the deſcent to the younger, and the land ſhall eſcheat to the lord[2]. Sir Edward Coke in this caſe allows[3], that if the anceſtor be attainted, his ſons born before the attainder may be heirs to each other; and diſtinguiſhes it from the caſe of the ſons of an alien, becauſe in this caſe the blood was inheritable when imparted to them from the father: but he makes a doubt (upon the ſame principles, which are now overruled[4]) whether ſons, born after the attainder, can inherit to each other; for they never had any inheritable blood in them.
Upon the whole it appears, that a perſon attainted is neither allowed to retain his former eſtate, nor to inherit any future one, nor to tranſmit any inheritance to his iſſue, either immediately from himſelf, or mediately through himſelf from any remoter anceſtor; for his inheritable blood, which is neceſſary either to hold, to take, or to tranſmit any feodal property, is blotted out, corrupted, and extinguiſhed for ever: the conſequence of which is, that eſtates, thus impeded in their deſcent, reſult back and eſcheat to the lord.
