By Leah J. Gleason
Following my true crime documentary series, I’m twisting it a little bit to look at the fee tail or entail situation in Downton Abbey. I’ve watched this series on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I love a good historical drama so Downton Abbey is a favorite of mine. If you haven’t watched it, you may not want to read this article, there will be a lot of spoilers!
The series opens with the sinking of the Titanic. Lord Grantham’s male heir is on the boat and is presumed dead. This is an issue because Lord Grantham only has 3 daughters and no sons. Therefore, none of his daughters are able to inherit the title of “Earl of Grantham” and it must go to the next male heir. With the obvious heir passing away, they must find the next heir to the title. The title comes with the land and money associated with the title. Lord Grantham’s father made it all part of the estate and made it so everything would pass to the next person with the title.
Lord Grantham is essentially a tenant of Downton Abbey, not the real owner. Lord Grantham has Downton Abbey in a fee tail rather than a fee simple estate. A fee simple type of ownership means you have all the rights to the property. In a fee simple, you can sell the property, sell only part of it, or let anyone you want inherit the property. Fee tail means there are conditions or strings attached to the property. This particular fee tail in the series is a fee tail male type which means that only the male heirs can inherit. This little bit of legal drama is a strong basis for the show. It brings in another lead for the show and coupled with early British history makes for an interesting and rather factual plot for the series. Spoiler – Matthew, the heir they had to go find, dies which starts the whole process over again.
I would highly recommend watching this series if you haven’t already. It is filled with historical drama. The Titanic sinks, World War I, the Spanish flu, and many other world events occur. It is interesting to watch it from a different point of view. We get to see how those events impacted everyone from the Lords and Ladies to the kitchen staff which is a fresh take on them.