De donis conditionalibus

…of the 13th century (statute De donis conditionalibus, 1285) allowed a conveyor of land to limit its inheritance to the direct descendants of the conveyee and to claim it back if the conveyee’s direct line died out (fee tail). (See also entail.) In one of their few deviations from the…

…(1285) has become known as De donis conditionalibus (“concerning conditional gifts”) from its first clause, which sought to restrain alienation of land and preserve entail. The statute (1290) generally referred to by its opening words, Quia emptores terrarum . . . (“because sellers of lands . . .”), called the…