In virtue of the law of partible inheritance, the death of every pro-
prietor brings about a kind of revolution in property : not only do
his possessions change hands, but their very nature is altered ; since
they are parcelled into shares, which become smaller and smaller at
each division. This is the direct, and, as it were, the physical effect
of the law. It follows, then, that in countries where equality of inhe-
ritance is established by law, property, and especially landed property,
must have a tendency to perpetual diminution. The effects, however,
of such legislation would only be perceptible after a lapse of time, if
the law was abandoned to its own working ; fof supposing a family to
consist of two children, (and in a country peopled as France is the
avjrage number is not above three,) these children, ^sharing among
them the fortune of both parents, would not be poorer than their father
or mother.
But the law of equal division exercises its influence not merely upon
the property itself, but it affects the minds of the heirs, and brings their
passions into play. These indirect consequences tend powerfully to
the destruction of large fortunes, and especially of large domains.
46

r I

Among nations whose law of descent is founded npon ti^ right of
primogeniture, landed estates often pass from generatioB ti/'JUeiierttioQ
without undergoing division. The consequence of whieh 19^ that fa-
mily feeling is to a certain degree incorporated with the esttttci. The
family represents the estate, the estate the family ; whose name, to-
gether with its origin, its glory, its power, and its virtues, is thus per-
petuated in an imperishable memorial of the past, and a, sure pledge of
the future.
