In 1784 the Act of Restoration was passed, this Act was made to restore the estates of attainted persons to their named heirs, the reason for this can be found in the wording of the document :

"Whereas, by the experience of many years since that time", (the Act of Attainder)," it has been found, that no subjects in any part of his Majesty's Dominions are more loyal or dutiful ; or better affected to his Majesty's Person and Government, than the Inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland now are, many of whom, of all ranks and descriptions, have performed signal Services to their Country, in the late Wars between Great Britain and its Enemies, and more particularly the Heirs and Families of all or most of the said attainted Persons have been employed in the service of their lawful Sovereign, and testified their Loyalty and Zeal upon all occasions, and therefore it is fit that they now receive some Mark of his Majesty's Royal Mercy and Clemency ;- And whereas it is expedient that the said Estates be now disannexed, and restored to the Heirs and Families of the former Owners, upon payment of certain Sums on account of the Debts due by the forfeiting Persons, which were discharged by the Public, and under the other conditions herein-after mentioned................"

In every case of restoration of estate recited in this act the specific name of the person to whom the restoration is to be made , is mentioned, except in the case of the estates of Perth. In the section relating to these estates the act gives an erroneous account as to whose attainder the estates became forfeited and then goes on to say that it is not certain who the heir to the estates is. The Act of Attainder 19 Geo. II 1746 recites that ;

James Drummond, taking upon himself the Title of Duke of Perth ;- John Drummond, taking upon himself the stile or Title of Lord John Drummond, Brother to James Drummond taking on himself the Title of Duke of Perth ;-( and divers other persons named). on or before the 18th Day of April, in the Year 1746, did, in a traitorous and hostile Manner, take up Arms, and levy War against his Most Gracious Majesty, within this Realm, contrary to the Duty of their Allegiance, and are fled to avoid their being apprehended and prosecuted according to Law for their said Offences. Be it therefore enacted , by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, that if the said James Drummond, taking upon himself the Title of Duke of Perth;- John Drummond, taking upon himself the Stile or Title of Lord John Drummond, Brother to James Drummond, taking on himself the Title of Duke of Perth,( and the other persons named), shall not render themselves to one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace on or before the 12th Day of July, in the Year 1746, and submit to the Justice for the Treasons aforesaid, then every one of them the said - James Drummond...., not rendering himself as aforesaid, and not submitting to a Justice as aforesaid, shall, from and after the said 18th Day of April in the Year 1746, stand and be adjudged attainted of the said High Treason, to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever, and shall suffer and forfeit as a Person Attainted of High Treason by the Laws of the Land ought to suffer and forfeit.

The wording of this document makes it clear that the attainder was served on James Drummond himself but the Act of Restoration mistakenly names the attainted person as his brother John. Therefore, under this act, James Drummond becomes the heir to his brother John who died unmarried, as his only LIVING brother, remember a court of Law found him to be the true James Drummond 6th Earl of Perth. Even after this error, the heirs of James Drummond of Biddick are still the heirs to the Perth estates. An extract from a book written in 1831 also comes to this conclusion and states "then have the present possessors of the estates obtained them wrongfully, and Justice now calls upon them to surrender them into the hands of those who are legally entitled to them". Of course this was written before the Lords gave the estates to Count de Melfort, but did the Lords act legally by dismissing the claim of Thomas Drummond and declaring the findings of Cannongate and the overwhelming evidence that James Drummond of Biddick was in fact the 6th Earl void ?. The act of attainder also throws up another question, James Drummond is said to have died aboard ship on the 11th or 13th of May 1746 (depending on which account you read), the act of attainder was passed on the 4th of June 1746, this was some 3 weeks after his well (and officially) reported 'death', why then did the Government, knowing of his death, put his name into the act of attainder and require him to report to a Justice of the Peace ?, the only answer must be that the Government themselves did not believe this fabrication and knew James to be alive.