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Scottish Court of Session Decisions >>
Hawthorn v Gordon. [1696] Mor 5361 (12 November 1696)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/1696/Mor1305361-005.html Cite as:
[1696] Mor 5361
An ordinary country house, (no tower or fortalice,) was found divisible among the heirs portioners of a small estate.
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In the action Margaret Hawthorn against Gordon of Cairnfield, her eldest sister's husband, for a portion of the value of the dwelling-house, in the lands whereof her sister and she were co-heiresses, alleged, That in the division among co-heirs, the manor-place tanquam indivisibile quid appertained solely to the eldest daughter, as a prerogative of primogeniture. Answered, That held only in towers and fortalices, such as Craig calls turres pinnatæ, and where the interest was considerable; but here it was proven the property did not exceed 200 merks yearly, and it was but such a house as a tenant might dwell in; and though it held of the King, and the manor-place was excepted in the wife's liferent sasine, yet this could not make it any more than an ordinary country-house. The Lords found it had no privilege, but was divisible between the two heirs portioners.
Fol. Dic. v. 1. p. 364. Fountainhall, v. 1. p. 733.
