TA ELM E, in the law of Scotland, is the technical term correspond ing with the English word Entail, which now generally supersedes it in colloquial use, even in Scotland. The early history of Entail law in Scotland in some respects resembles that of England, but in later times they diverged from each other. In Scotland there was no early effort, such as the statute of Westminster the Second (13 Edw. I.) favouring deeds appointing a fixed series of heirs, nor does there appear to have been on the part of the judges that inclination to permit perpetuities to be defeated by fictions which was shown in England. Devices, however, of a very similar character to those of the English statute were adopted to defeat attempts by holders under entail to use their lands as if they were absolute proprietors. The first and simplest restriction laid on the destined heirs of an entail was in the form of a mere prohibition, against contracting debt which might occasion the attachment of the estate by creditors, selling the property, altering the order of succession, and the like. A provision of this character, called the " Prohibitive clause," was, however, quite insufficient to accomplish the cud ; because if a creditor had really attached the estate for debt, or a person had bond fide purchased it, it was no ground for wresting the title out of his hands, that the pro prietor was under a prohibition against permitting such occurrences.
A second provision was added, called an " Irritant clause," by which any right acquired contrary to the provisions of the entail was declared to be null. Still this did not effectually intimidate the bolder under the entail from making efforts to break it, and did not give the next in succession a sufficient title to interfere. A third provision was added called the " Resolutive clause," by which the right of the person who contravenes the prohibition "resolves" or becomes forfeited. It was then provided by statute (1685, c. 22) that all entails should be effective which contained Irritant and Reeolutive clauses, were duly recorded in the Register of Entails, and were followed by recorded solidus con taining the Prohibitory, Irritant, and Resolutive clauses. Entails thus became a permanent feature in the institutions of the country. A sort of judicial war was for a time carried on against them, which produced a vast amount of litigation and strife, and placed the titles of property in a precarious and doubtful position. Quite recently, however, the entail law of Scotland has been assimilated to that of England; the method of creating entails has been simplified, and means of barring them provided, so that, except in matters of form, the law of Scotland with respect to entails now closely resembles that of England.