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length of endurance are, however, feldom or never accepted of by-tenants from entailed eftates ; whether that the term is confidered astoo fhort to reimburfe the expenfe by its profits ; or whether (as ageneral ftatute, guarded by fpecific claufes, like the bed of Procruf-te«, admits not of requifite adaptation), the enclofure specificallyrequired may not often prove, were it executed, if not pofitively de-trimental, at leaft nugatory and unprofitable. •}•
Mortmain is a device for giving perpetuity to a continued fuccef-fion of tranfitory interefts in land. It is accompanied with all thedeleterious effefts of entail. It is, in fo far, even a worfe conftitu-tion of holding, impofed upon land than entail, that it can have notermination ; whereas the provifion of entail may ceafe, in the courfeof ages, after all that has been preconceived and provided for hascome to an ifiue.
Where the adminiftration is veiled in thofe bodies corporate whoderive the benefit, we may infallibly expedl juft fuch meafures as arecalculated to yield moft immediate profits to the conftituent mem.-hera, upon their tranfitory intereft. Like pofiefiing heirs of entail,under many supposable circumstances, they will, uniformly , find anintereft in taking from the land every thing that can be fqueezedfrom it, withholding every thing of the nature of improvement thatdoes not make an inftantaneous return.
Where the adminiftration is in difinterefted hands, for the behoofof others, the fame anxiety to make the moft of a tranfitory intereft^"'ll! not operate : the misfortune only will be, that improvement willaot he ftimulated by the lively fenfe of perfonal intereft, but becomea merely gratuitous exertion.
There are fpecimens of mortmain in Scotland under each confu-tation of adminiftration, but to no great extent.
The glebes of the Clergy, confining of from fix to eight acresEa ch, and amounting perhaps to from 6000 to 8000 acres of land“pon the whole, conftitute probably the greateft amount of Scotsfinds held under mortmain. Though they are placed under the“ft mentioned, and worll fpecies of adminiftration, yet, as the Cler-
t If it is considered as essential that nobility should attach to matter, and|1^ t0 mind, and that it should be perpetuated by its permanence in lands con-llU( ’d in the possession of individual families, rather than by fresh issues ofW^nal creation from the perennial fountain of honour, such a reason mayjustify, perhaps, the unalienable attachment of the family estate to the male re-presentative, though at the expense of beggaring all the other members,—lests poverty should make his nobility become ridiculous; and yet in England,'matter would seem left much more to the discretion of individual prudence,‘“out sensible inconvenience.
■j, 1 ^ d is surely unbecoming the wisdom of the Legislature , to suffer every„ udual, from Jus own whim and caprice, to lock up his land, to perpetuity,
. ® commerce,. making it stagnate, for generations, in hands which he has1 “Imitated for improvement by the fiat of his will. If the lands are consi-, as. constituting the great capital of the nation, it wears absurdity on th^;' eof it, to suppose that any individual should be entitled thus to condemna state of comparative sterility. To withdraw support from entail, wouldpreferable to spy palliative administered to such a rotten constitution.