ree
Testamentary disposition; and it appears to me that the state of
sentiment in a great part of French society, on the subject of the
conservation of property in families, is much liker that which
prevailed through Europe two or three centuries ago than are the
current opinions of Englishmen.

The mention of Primogeniture introduces one of the most difficult
problems of historical jurisprudence. Though I have not paused to
explain my expressions, it may have been noticed that I have
frequently spoken of a number of "co-heirs" as placed by the Roman Law
of Succession on the same footing with a single Heir. In point of
fact, we know of no period of Roman jurisprudence at which the place
of the Heir, or Universal Successor, might not have been taken by a
group of co-heirs. This group succeeded as a single unit, and the
assets were afterwards divided among them in a separate legal
proceeding. When the Succession was _ab intestato_, and the group
consisted of the children of the deceased, they each took an equal
share of the property; nor, though males had at one time some
advantages over females, is there the faintest trace of Primogeniture.
The mode of distribution is the same throughout archaic jurisprudence.
It certainly seems that, when civil society begins and families cease
to hold together through a series of generations, the idea which
spontaneously suggests itself is to divide the domain equally among
the members of each successive generation, and to reserve no privilege
to the eldest son or stock. Some peculiarly significant hints as to
the close relation of this phenomenon to primitive thought are
furnished by systems yet more archaic than the Roman. Among the
Hindoos, the instant a son is born, he acquires a vested right in his
father's property, which cannot be sold without recognition of his
joint ownership. On the son's attaining full age, he can sometimes
compel a partition of the estate even against the consent of the
parent; and, should the parent acquiesce, one son can always have a
partition even against the will of the others. On such partition
taking place, the father has no advantage over his children, except
that he has two of the shares instead of one. The ancient law of the
German tribes was exceedingly similar. The _allod_ or domain of the
family was the joint-property of the father and his sons. It does not,
however, appear to have been habitually divided even at the death of
the parent, and