“ Since the passing of the statute an estate given to a man and the heirs of his body has been known as an estate tail, or an estate in fee tail (feudum talliatum) , the word tail being derived from the French tailler, to cut, the inheritance being by the statute cut down and confined to the heirs of the body. The operation of the statute soon produced innumerable evils: “children, it is said, grew disobedient when they knew they could not be set aside; farmers were deprived of their leases ”

“ This right of reversion was evaded by the interpretation that such a gift was a conditional fee, which enabled the donee, if he had an heir of the body born alive, to alienate the land, and consequently disinherit the issue and defeat the right of the donor. ”