This corruption of blood, thus ariſing from feodal principles, but perhaps extended farther than even thoſe principles will warrant, has been long looked upon as a peculiar hardſhip: becauſe, the oppreſſive parts of the feodal tenures being now in general aboliſhed, it ſeems unreaſonable to reſerve one of their moſt inequitable conſequences; namely, that the children ſhould not only be reduced to preſent poverty, (which, however ſevere, is ſufficiently juſtified upon reaſons of public policy) but alſo be laid under future difficulties of inheritance, on account of the guilt of their anceſtors. And therefore in moſt (if not all) of the new felonies, created by parliament ſince the reign of Henry the eighth, it is declared that they ſhall not extend to any corruption of blood: and by the ſtatute 7 Ann. c. 21. (the operation of which is poſtponed by the ſtatute 17 Geo. II. c. 39.) it is enacted, that, after the death of the pretender, and his ſons, no attainder for treaſon ſhall extend to the diſinheriting any heir, nor the prejudice of any perſon, other than the offender himſelf: which proviſions have indeed carried the remedy farther, than was required by the hardſhip above complained of; which is only the future obſtruction of deſcents, where the pedigree happens to be deduced through the blood of an attainted anceſtor.
Before I conclude this head, of eſcheat, I muſt mention one ſingular inſtance in which lands held in fee-ſimple are not liable to eſcheat to the lord, even when their owner is no more, and hath left no heirs to inherit them. And this is the caſe of a corporation: for if that comes by any accident to be diſſolved, the donor or his heirs ſhall have the land again in reverſion, and not the lord by eſcheat: which is perhaps the only inſtance where a reverſion can be expectant on a grant in fee-ſimple abſolute. But the law, we are told[1], doth tacitly annex a condition to every ſuch gift or grant, that if the corporation be diſſolved, the donor or grantor ſhall re-enter; for the cauſe of the gift or grant
- ↑ Co. Litt. 13.
