What is "tailzie"

Tailzie \Tail"zie\ (-z[i^] or -y[i^]), n. [F. tailler to cut. See Tail a limitation.] (Scots Law) An entailment or deed whereby the legal course of succession is cut off, and an arbitrary one substituted. [Written also tailzee.]

n. (context legal Scotland English) An entailment or deed whereby the legal course of succession is cut off, and an arbitrary one substituted.

Tailzie, in Scots law, is the feudal concept of the inheritance of immovable property according to an arbitrary course that has been laid out, such as in a document known as a "deed of tailzie". It was codified by the Entail Act 1685.

Tailzie is similar to the common law concept of fee tail, as the "heir in tailzie" is entailed to the property. An "heir in tailzie" could not sell the property so inherited, except to the feu superior (that is, to the holder of the dominum directum of the feu).

Alternate spellings of the word are tailie, taillie, tailze, tailyie, tailye, taylzie, teally, teilzie, telyie, teylyie tyle, talyee. It is derived from the Old French tailler (to cut) and taille (a cutting).

The definition was constructed from the sources.