Entails [1]

Entails

by John V. Orth, 2006

Entails were legal arrangements by which ownership of land was confined within a single family, passing at death from generation to generation. Known in legal jargon as a "fee tail," an entailed estate was limited to a person and his biological heirs. Developed in medieval England [2], entails were well known in colonial [3] North Carolina. The state's first constitution directed the General Assembly [4] to legislate against entails, and a law was passed in 1784 [5] that has remained in force.

Reference:

John V. Orth, "Does the Fee Tail Exist in North Carolina?" Wake Forest Law Review 23 (1988).

Additional Resources:

Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1784, DocSouth, UNC Libraries: http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr24-0014 [5]

Subjects:

American Revolution (1763-1789) [6]

Law and legal history [7]

UNC Press [8]

Authors:

Orth, John V. [9]

From:

Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. [10]

1 January 2006 | Orth, John V.