III.

BOOK groffed, and the greater part by a few great proprietors.

THIS original engroffing of uncultivated lands, though a great, might have been but a tranfitory evil. They might foon have been divided again, and broke into fmall parcels either by fucceffion or by alienation. The law of primogeniture hindered them from being divided by fucceffion the introduction of entails prevented their being broke into fmall parcels by alienation.

WHEN land, like moveables, is confidered as the means only of fubfiftence and enjoyment, the natural law of fucceffion divides it, like them, among all the children of the family; of all of whom the fubfiftence and enjoyment may be fuppofed equally dear to the father. This natural law of fucceffion accordingly took place among the Romans, who made no more diftinction between elder and younger, between male and female, in the inheritance of lands, than we do in the diftribution of moveables. But when land was confidered as the means, not of fubfiftence merely, but of power and protection, it was thought better that it should defcend undivided to one. In those disorderly times, every great landlord was a fort of petty prince. His tenants were his fubjects. He was their judge, and in some respects their legislator in peace, and their leader in war. He made war according to his own discretion, frequently againft his neighbours, and fometimes against his fovereign. The fecurity of a landed estate, therefore, the protection

II.

which its owner could afford to thofe who dwelt CHA P. on it, depended upon its greatnefs. To divide it was to ruin it, and to expofe every part of it to be oppreffed and fwallowed up by the incurfions of its neighbours. The law of primogeniture, therefore, came to take place, not immediately, indeed, but in procefs of time, in the fucceffion of landed estates, for the fame reason that it has generally taken place in that of monarchies, though not always at their first institution. That the power, and confequently the security of the monarchy, may not be weakened by divifion, it muft defcend entire to one of the children. To which of them so important a preference fhall be given, must be determined by some general rule, founded not upon the doubtful distinctions of perfonal merit, but upon fome plain and evident difference which can admit of no difpute. Among the children of the fame family, there can be no indifputable difference but that of fex, and that of age. The male fex is univerfally preferred to the female; and when all other things are equal, the elder every-where takes place of the younger. Hence the origin of the right of primogeniture, and of what is called lineal fucceffion.

*

LAWS frequently continue in force long after the circumftances, which firft gave occafion to them, and which could alone render them reafonable, are no more. In the present state of Europe, the proprietor of a fingle acre of land is as perfectly fecure of his poffeffion as the proprietor of a hundred thoufand. The right of primogeniture,

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BOOK niture, however, ftill continues to be respected, III. and as of all inftitutions it is the fittest to fup

port the pride of family diftinctions, it is ftill likely to endure for many centuries. In every other refpect, nothing can be more contrary to the real intereft of a numerous family, than a right which, in order to enrich one, beggars all the reft of the children.

ENTAILS are the natural confequences of the law of primogeniture. They were introduced to preferve a certain lineal fucceffion, of which the law of primogeniture firft gave the idea, and to hinder any part of the original eftate from being carried out of the propofed line either by gift, or devife, or alienation; either by the folly, or by the misfortune of any of its fucceffive owners. They were altogether unknown to the Romans. Neither their fubftitutions nor fideicommiffes bear any resemblance to entails, though fome French lawyers have thought proper to drefs the modern inftitution in the language and garb of thofe ancient ones.

WHEN great landed eftates were a fort of principalities, entails might not be unreafonable. Like what are called the fundamental laws of some monarchies, they might frequently hinder the fecurity of thoufands from being endangered by the caprice or extravagance of one man. But in the present state of Europe, when small as well as great eftates derive their fecurity from the laws of their country, nothing can be more completely abfurd. They are founded upon the most abfurd of all fuppofitions, the fuppofition

that

that every fucceffive generation of men have not an equal right to the earth, and to all that it poffeffes; but that the property of the present generation fhould be reftrained and regulated according to the fancy of thofe who died perhaps five hundred years ago. Entails, however, are ftill respected through the greater part of Europe, in thofe countries particularly in which noble birth is a neceffary qualification for the enjoyment either of civil or military honours. Entails are thought neceffary for maintaining this exclufive privilege of the nobility to the great offices and honours of their country; and that order having ufurped one unjust advantage over the rest of their fellow-citizens, left their poverty should render it ridiculous, it is thought reasonable that they should have another. The common law of England, indeed, is faid to abhor perpetuities, and they are accordingly more reftricted there than in any other European monarchy; though even England is not altogether without them. In Scotland more than one-fifth, perhaps more than one-third part of the whole lands of the country, are at prefent fuppofed to be under ftrict entail.

GREAT tracts of uncultivated land were, in this manner, not only engroffed by particular families, but the poffibility of their being divided again was as much as poffible precluded for ever. It feldom happens, however, that a great proprietor is a great improver. In the diforderly times which gave birth to those barbarous inftitutions, the great proprietor was fufficiently emG 3 ployed

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II.

BOOK ployed in defending his own territories, or in extending his jurifdiction and authority over thofe of his neighbours. He had no leifure to attend to the cultivation and improvement of land. When the establishment of law and order afforded him this leifure, he often wanted the inclination, and almost always the requifite abilities. If the expence of his house and perfon either equalled or exceeded his revenue, as it did very frequently, he had no ftock to employ in this manner. If he was an economist, he generally found it more profitable to employ his annual favings in new purchases, than in the improvement of his old eftate. To improve land with profit, like all other commercial projects, requires an exact attention to small savings and fmall gains, of which a man born to a great fortune, even though naturally frugal, is very feldom capable. The fituation of fuch a perfon naturally disposes him to attend rather to ornament which pleases his fancy, than to profit for which he has fo little occafion. The elegance of his dress, of his equipage, of his houfe, and houfhold furniture, are objects which from his infancy he has been accustomed to have fome anxiety about. The turn of mind which this habit naturally forms, follows him when he comes to think of the improvement of land. He embellishes perhaps four or five hundred acres in the neighbourhood of his houfe, at ten times the expence which the land is worth after all his improvements; and finds that if he was to improve. his whole eftate in the fame manner,

and