The son of a barrister, Trollope was fascinated by the workings of the legal system. This novel, his last major work, is dominated by the figure of John Scarborough, a wealthy squire who contrives from his deathbed to defeat the law of entail. Seeking to bequeath his estate to the worthier of his two sons, he subjects them to a testing examination and, in the process, baffles his lawyers and scandalizes society. The social world also comes under scrutiny as Trollope explores the codes of conduct governing courtship and marriage, money-lending, gambling and other subjects as he records the conflict between law and justice, and the passing of traditional values. The text is that of the first edition of 1883 and includes a number of textual emendations.