Sentence:  an accident […] rendered him permanently lame, and therefore unfitted him, in the opinion of his parents, to inherit his father's many titles, which, it was then arranged, should <WSD>devolve</WSD> upon his younger brother. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To be inherited by someone else; to pass down (upon) the next person in a succession, especially through failure or loss of an earlier holder. (from 16th c.)