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ing cattle, in security for a fine which he can exact, of half amerk, or sixpence two-thirds for each trespassing animal, withoutdistinction of kinds, as also for the damage that can be instructed.
Such are the wholesome statutes enacted in favour of Scots landed proprietors, in disentangling their property from common-ly, for the encouragement of agricultural improvement.
The unlimited power of entail, conferred upon Scots landed pro-prietors by act 1685, may, probably, have tended as much todiscourage such improvements, as the fore-recited statutes to en-courage them, f By tin’s pernicious statute, every proprietor ofland is empowered, out of his mere caprice, and without autho-rity of any judge, to lock up his lands from commerce, (not onlyin favour of persons actually existing, whom he can see, and fortwenty-one years* farther, but), to all succeeding generations,as far as he can conceive and imagine.
As the entailer is empowered to prevent his lands from beingeither alienated or burdened with any debt, the possessing heir ofentail is merely a liferent usufructuary of the lands. He cangive no security upon his lands to his creditors, and can thereforeobtain no capital to borrow, to sink in improvements. He has,indeed, no interest to make more permanent improvements, thanwhat would readily repay both interest and capital, during theuncertain tenure of his own life ; and his interest in improve-ment, from that of perpetual proprietor, is thus made to dwindledown to that of mere liferenter. His obvious interest is, toprey upon the land like the locust, taking every thing from it thatit will yield, and rendering nothing to it that he can withhold,in order that he may save a provision for younger children; or,it may be, as the only provision for any of his children, if, f° rdefault of male heirs, the estate passes by the entail to anotherfine. It is not easy to conceive any constitution of the holdingof landed property, more completely calculated to damp, or to-tally to extinguish the spirit of improvement in the proprietor,unless that which is said to take place in Turkey, where the Sit-t an is the sole heir to the property of his subjects.
To such an absurd height has the will of deceased entailers beenallowed to militate against all kinds of improvement, that, by thelaw, as it was interpreted, entailers could, and even often di«prevent their lands from being properly let in lease ; % althoughlong leases are evidently the only measures remaining to commit*nicate, in any quarter, ah interest in the permanent improvementof estates locked up under entail.
f Smith's "Wealth of Nations, B6ok 111. Part i. Chap. 2. lie supposes per-haps one-third of the lands of Scotland to be held under strict entail; and 11Extremely probable that the proportion has increased since his time.
* This is the limit of the power of entail in England, according to PaktMoral and Political Philosophy, Book III, Part i. Chap. 29,