Well, not really. I have bought and sold pieces of land.Part of the availability of land is precisely the fact that we do not have ownership “in fee tail” making land titles unsalable.
??I’m reluctant to assume that you don’t understand me, but it’s certain that we don’t both understand each other.
You are able to buy land from someone, only if he has the right to sell it to you. If the owner of the land held it in fee tail, he would not have the right to sell it to you, and your lawyer would warn you against paying the price of the property for a flawed deed which wouldn’t stand up in court. IMHO, and IANAL, it would be the same as if you bought real estate from a married man, and didn’t get his wife’s signature on the bill of sale. In such case when the man who sold it to you dies, his wife inherits “your” property from her late husband - and you are on the outside looking in. At least that’s how it was taught to me in the one law course, the elective “Cases on Contracts,” which I took in engineering school.
It would seem that the holder of property in fee tail would have been in the same position as the man who can’t get his wife to agree to a sale of real estate - his eldest son would inherit “your” property upon his death - and that could not be changed by the owner of property in fee tail. Lacking the ability to deliver a clear title, the owner of property in fee tail would not be able to sell his property for anything approximating its full worth - and if you bought it from him, you couldn’t sell it for full value either - because your “title” would expire with the death of the man you bought it from.
That sort of pitfall, IMHO, is what a “title search” is all about.
Ok, I see your point.