men; 1 sometimes the women inherit nothing; 2 whereas in a few exceptional cases the women are the only inheritors.3 Among various savages the widow also has a share in the inheritance, or at any rate has the usufruct of property left by her deceased husband. Very frequently the eldest son, or, where the maternal system of descent prevails in

2

3

4

full, the eldest uterine brother or the eldest son of the eldest uterine sister, is the chief or even the only heir. But there are also several instances in which this privilege is granted to the youngest son. Thus, among the Hos of India he apparently inherits all the property of his father; among the Limbus of Nepal, though an extra share is set apart for the eldest son, the youngest one is allowed. to choose his share first; among the Eskimo of Behring Strait, "if there are several sons the eldest gets the least, the most valuable things being given to the youngest. In Greenland a foster-son inherits all the property of his foster-father, if the latter dies without offspring or if his sons are still young children; and of the West African Fulah we are told that, though they have sons and daughters, the adopted child becomes heir to all that they leave behind. Among the Kukis, in default of legitimate issue, a natural son succeeds to his father's property before all other male relations; among the Bódo and Dhimáls sons by concubinage or adoption get equal shares with sons born in wedlock; 10 the Wanyamwezi of Eastern Africa have the habit of leaving property to their illegitimate children by slave girls or concubines even to the exclusion of their issue by wives." Among other uncivilised peoples,

African tribes). Bosman, op. cit. pp. 173 (natives of the Gold Coast), 322 (natives of the Slave Coast). Leuschner, in Steinmetz, Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 20 (Bakwiri). Mademba, ibid. p. 81 (pagan Bambara). Desoignies, ibid. p. 276 (Msalala). Marx, ibid. p. 355 (Amahlubi). Chanler, Through Jungle and Desert, p. 316 (Rendile). Post, Afrikanische Juris prudenz, ii. 12 sqq. Idem, Grundriss der ethnol. Jurisprudenz, i. 217, 218,

again, slaves cannot inherit at all,' and where they are allowed to possess property the master is sometimes the legitimate heir of his slave.2

At higher stages of civilisation the rules of inheritance present the same characteristics as among many savages. During historic times, at least, the nations of culture have reckoned kinship through the father, and succession has been agnatic. In China women only inherit in the very last resort, failing all male relatives. Among the Hebrews, in ancient times, only sons, not daughters, still less wives, could inherit; but the later law conferred on daughters the right of heirship in the absence of sons. The Muhammedan law of inheritance in most cases awards to a female a share equal to half that of a male of the same degree of relationship to the deceased; but according to the old law of Medina women could not inherit at all. Of all the ancient nations with whose rules of inheritance we are acquainted, the Romans seem to have been the only one who gave daughters the same right of inheritance as sons." In India women had originally no such right at all, but in this, as in other matters relating to property, their position subsequently improved.10 In Attic law sons excluded

Nicole, in Steinmetz, Rechtsverhaltnisse, PP. 115, 119 (DiakitéSarracolese). Lang, ibid. pp. 238, 242 (Washambala). Kraft, ibid. pp. 289, 291 (Wapokomo). Rautanen, ibid. p. 335 (Ondonga). Post, Grundriss der ethnol. Jurisprudenz, i. 383.

* Munzinger, Die Sitten und das Recht der Bogos, p. 73. Steinmetz, Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 43 (Banaka and Bapuku). Madeniba, ibid. p. 83 tatives of the Sansanding States). Post, Grundriss der ethnol. Jurisprudenz, i. 383.

* See Westermarck, op. 104.

cit. P. Alabaster, Law of Inheritance,' in China Review, v. 193. Inheritance and "Patria Potestas in China,' did. v. 406.

22

Genesis, xxxi. 14 sq. Numbers, xxvii. 4. Gans, Das Erbrecht in weltgeschichtlicher Entwickelung, i.

7

147. Benzinger, Law and Justice,' in Cheyne and Black, Encyclopædia Biblica, iii. 2728.

• Numbers, xxvii. 8. Gans, op. cit. i. 147. Benzinger, loc. cit. p. 2729. It is only by exceptional favour that the daughters inherit along with the sons (Job, xlii. 15).

7 Koran, iv. 12, 175. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, p. 116 sq. Kohler, Rechtsvergleichende Studien, p. 102 sqq.

8 Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, pp. 65, 117. Gans, op. cit. ii. 367 sq. Gide, Etude sur la condition privée de la femme, p. 102.

10 Jolly, loc. cit. pp. 83, 86. Kohler, Indisches Ehe- und Familienrecht,' in Zeitschr. f. vergl. Rechtswiss. iii. 424 $99. Leist, Alt-arisches Jus Civile, ii. 48.

2

4

3

As

daughters from succession,' and the same was the cas among the Scandinavian peoples still in the later Middle Ages. In England women are even to this day postponed to men in the order of succession to real property. Special privileges in the division of the father's property were granted to the eldest son by the Hebrews and Hindus,* and traces of primogeniture are met with in ancient Greek legislation. In the history of English law we find not only primogeniture, but ultimogeniture as well.7 regards the question of legitimacy, we notice that in China all sons born in the household have an equal share in the inheritance, whether born of the principal wife or a concubine or a domestic slave. Among the Hebrews the sons of concubines had a right of inheritance," but whether on an equality with the other sons we do not know.10 According to Muhammedan law no distinction in point of inheritance is made between the child of a wife and that borne by a slave to her master, if the master acknowledge the child to be his own."1

8

1 Gans, op. cit. i. 338, 341. Gide, op. cit. p. 79.

2 Nordström, Bidrag till den svenska samhälls-författningens historia, ii. 95, 190. Stemann, Den danske

Retshistorie indtil Christian V's Lov, p. 311 sq. Keyser, Efterladte Skrifter, ii. pt. i. 330, 339.

Renton, Encyclopedia of the Laws of England, xi. 75.

Deuteronomy, xxi. 17. Gans, op. cit. i. 148. Benzinger, in Cheyne and Black, Encyclopædia Biblica, iii. 2729. Mr. Jacobs suggests (Studies in Biblical Archæology, p. 49 sqq.) that ultimogeniture was once the rule in early Hebrew society, and was succeeded by primogeniture only when the Israelites exchanged their roving life for one in which sons became more stay-at-home.

5 Apastamba, ii. 6. 14. 6, 12. Laws of Manu, ix. 114. Jolly, loc. cit. pp. 77, 82. Maine, Dissertations on Early Law and Custom, p. 89 sq. In China, though sons inherit in equal shares, "it is not uncommon for the brothers to temporarily yield up their share to the elder brother, either in whole or in

In Hindu legislation the legiti

part, for the glory of the House
('Inheritance and "Patria Potestas
in China,' in China Review, v. 406;
cf. Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese,
ii. 224; Davis, China, i. 343).

6 Fustel de Coulanges, op. cit. p. 99.
7 Elton, Origins of English History,
p. 178 sqq. Pollock and Maitland,
History of English Law till the Time
of Edward I. ii. 263 sqq. The custom
of ultimogeniture has also been traced
in Wales, parts of France, Germany,
Friesland, Scandinavia, Russia, and
Hungary (Elton, op. cit. p. 180 sqq.;
Liebrecht, op. cit. p. 431 sq.).
8 Parker, Comparative
Family Law,' in China
viii. 79.
'Inheritance and
Potestas in China,' ibid. v. 406.
Medhurst, Marriage, Affinity, and
Inheritance in China,' in Trans. Roy.
Asiatic Soc. China Branch, iv. 31. Sim-
cox, Primitive Civilizations, ii. 351.
9 Genesis, xxi. 10 sqq.

Chinese

Review,

"Patria

10 Benzinger, in Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica, iii. 2729.

11 Lane, Modern Egyptians, p. 118.

hate sons have the nearest right to the inheritance of their ather, but a son begotten by a Sûdra on a female slave may, if permitted by his father, take a share of it.1 The Roman law on the subject may be summed up thus :With regard to its father a natural child has no right at all, and differs in no respect from a stranger; with regard to its mother it has the same right as a legitimate child.2 In Teutonic countries the position of illegitimate children as to succession was much more favourable in earlier times than

later on when Christianity made its influence felt, depriving them of all title to inheritance. Strangers were formerly unable both to inherit and to transmit property. For a long time it was the custom in Europe to confiscate their effects on their death; and not only persons who were born in a foreign country were subject to this droit d'aubaine, as it was called in France, but in some countries it was applied even to persons who removed from one diocese to another, or from the lands of one baron to another. Indeed, it is only in recent times that foreigners have been placed on a footing of equality with citizens with regard to inheritance. In 1790 the French National Assembly abolished the right I of aubaine as being contrary to the principle of a human brotherhood. Later on, when the Code Napoléon was drawn up, a backward step was taken by restricting the abolition of this right to nations who acted with reciprocity; but this limitation only lasted till 1819, when all Inequalities were finally removed in France. In England it was not until 1870 that foreigners were authorised to inherit and bequeath like British subjects.7

Besides acquisition by occupation, possession for a certain length of time, labour, voluntary transfer, and inheritance, there are instances in which ownership in a

1

Jolly, loc. cit. p. 85. Laws of général des fiefs en France, ii. 944 sqq. Manu, ix. 179.

Gide, op. cit. p. 567 sqq.
Nordström, op. cit. ii. 67, 200 sqq.
See also Alard, Condition et droits des
exfants naturels, pp. 9, 11; supra,

47.

Brussel, Nouvel examen de l'usage
VOL. II

de Laurière, Glossaire du droit françois, p. 47 sq. Demangeat, Histoire de la condition civile des étrangers en France, p. 107 sqq. Demangeat, op. cit. p. 239.

6 Ibid. p. 250 sqq.

7 Naturalization Act, 1870, § 2.

E