The many Scottish remainders, which are quite unknown to English peerage
law, are all a consequence of this territorial nature of a Scottish
peerage. One of the chief differences at the present time between an
English and a Scottish peerage is to be found in those which are
heritable by females. Unless governed by special remainder contained in
the instrument of creation, a Scottish peerage, which in the event of
failure of a male heir devolves upon a female heir, differs from an
English one in its manner of descent. In Scotland the elder daughter
inherits as of right, standing in the line of heirship next after her
youngest brother and before any uncle or a younger sister. On the other
hand, such an inheritance is only known by virtue of a special remainder
in England. All Baronies by writ are Baronies in fee in England, and
heritable by the heir general, which means that they can if necessary
devolve upon females. If the only child of a peer having such a peerage
be a daughter she inherits in her own right, but if his issue is two
daughters, then the peerage falls into abeyance between them, because
under the law of England there is no seniority amongst daughters, and as
both of them cannot enjoy one single peerage, neither of them has it,
and it remains in abeyance until the Crown interferes or until by the
natural course of events one line becomes extinguished by the extinction
of all issue of the one daughter, when the peerage then at once devolves
upon the heir of the other. Sometimes an abeyance will last several
hundred years, sometimes it may end with the lapse of one or two; but at
any time during the continuance of an abeyance the Crown may, at its
entire pleasure, signify that any co-heir shall enjoy the peerage. This
is what is termed the determination of an abeyance, and this is effected
by the issue of a writ of summons to Parliament if the co-heir be a male
or by the issue of letters patent in the case of a lady. The co-heir in
whose favour the abeyance is determined then at once enjoys the peerage
with the same designation and precedence as those who have held it
hitherto, and his or her heir succeeds in due course.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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