Entail

Entail This was a provision of Anglo-American inheritance law allowing wills to be written that made it illegal for the heirs—and any of their descendants—to sell the land they received. Since it was relatively easy to break these “absolute inheritances” by laws passed for that purpose, they had little impact on how wealth was distributed. N.Y., Pa., N.J., Va., N.C., S.C., and Ga. allowed Entails in 1770, but by 1786, Entails were legal in only two states.