[michaelt]

To a reasonable extent, including this case, yes.

But there are limits - with finite resources like land, the present-day owners should not be subject to the whims of men who've been dead for 150+ years.

If in my great-great-great-grandfather's day he wanted part of his legacy to be land passed to his son who'd pass it on to his son and so on - that shouldn't stop me passing it on to my daughter.