The Detriment to the French People and State That the Present Inheritance Laws Provide
In the words of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux“
L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désir” Hell is full of good wishes and desires. I find it to be a perfect quote to describe the inheritance laws of our fair France. No quote can be more fitting or appropriate in its attempt to fulfill the good wishes of all children, while leaving all in poverty and France in stagnation. It was in many senses that which this faulty sense of equality came about during the revolution, rather than practicality, tradition and good sense.
To discuss this subject, one must be aware of the current state of laws regarding the inheritance of France, and to spare everyone’s temperament I shall only cover the overall standing issues of who can inherit under what rights. Under the current inheritance law of our Kingdom, every single son must receive an appropriate inheritance of the estate and wealth of his father, mother or other ancestors or family members. Children are divided into three categories depending on the manner of their parenthood. The first are legitimate children who are born in the wedlock between a lawful husband and wife. The second grade is natural born children, these are children born either prior or post marriage but still outside of marital union, but not from an adulterous relationship. Finally there are the children who are born from an adulterous relationship.
The right to inheritance is first and foremost belonging to the legitimate offspring. Should there however exist no legitimate offspring then the inheritance falls to the illegitimate children who are born prior or post to the marriage. The only children who have no basis in law or right to the inheritance of their parents are those who are born from adulterous relationships during the marriage, and as such cannot claim inheritance, though still be granted should the parent wish so.
Under our current laws, every heir under this system apart from the final category, are when certain conditions are met as outlined about such as when the lack of legitimate offspring occurs, entitled to a part of the inheritance. If there are two sons then the inheritance law demands that each be entitled to one third of the estate, if there are three sons then each receive one fourth of the estate and so on, while the remainder remains with the testator’s desires and discretion. However, at the same the same time the remainder of the inheritance stays under the principle of fairness to all sons and as such demands certain limitations on the distribution of the will not to damage said principle.
In this system which is built upon a false idea of equality, it prevents any estate or farm from remaining secure and united. Today in the Chambers we hear about agricultural boards, on how to prevent famines and ensure the output and competitiveness of the French farmer to secure French agriculture and supply the nation with its lifeblood, bread. But none seems to have a direct interest in the longevity of the farms ore estates themselves or the continued prosperity of the French agriculture aside from immediate gain.
Ministère Victor Durand de l'Intérieur has as of recent presented his bill for reform and stability, which in part deals with agriculture. If we look upon the part of the bill which deals with agriculture we can especially look upon article IV. “The Commission of Agriculture shall also gather and disseminate through the Kingdom the best practices related to agriculture and the production of foodstuffs.” And VII. “The Commission shall head inquiries in the various courts of Europe to find the most promising agricultural practices.” It quickly becomes clear that this board which is presented by the Minister aims to reform and improve upon the farming in our fair France, a need I see as well. French agriculture has been decimated and it must be restored, if this board is the right to carry it out I cannot say. But what is clear is that the French peasants and farmers must embrace new techniques and equipment, if we are to rival with other Kingdoms such as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which we must. In Britain they have techniques and equipment which many in France has never seen before, equipment which must be imported and made better by our fair people so that France may once more rise. The board may give recommendations, but it must be the individuals who shall embrace it, the farm owners and estate managers who shall decide how best to go forward. The Crown shall supply France with workable roads and means of transportation, but the farming must come from those who have managed it for centuries.
In Britain to ensure this continued progress of agriculture, the owners of the land are in a far better position to ensure adaptation of new techniques and equipment that than those of France. The answer as to why can easily be answered, the right of primogeniture. In the past we enjoyed this practice as well, and it benefitted the whole of France. It allowed the farms and estates to stay united in one unit, under one supervisor and with one purpose. It allowed all the great estate as well as small farms the continued stability and revenue that was needed to implement the reforms to secure the future of the estate.
If we look at the plight of a good off estate, let us say that it has 500 acres and the owner has five children. When the farmer dies the estate is split and now each child has 80 acres for himself, while the remainder is distributed towards others by the owner. Then let us now say that each of the five children also has five children, each grandchild now has about 13 acres. This cycle continues and within the span of a small few generations, what was once a profitable estate has been split into dozens of smaller farms. What was once a profitable estate with good revenue and money to spare for improvements has now been split up into smaller parts, all of which with a much small capital and revenue than two generations ago. All of these smaller parts now provide different families with some form of subsistence, but it has also reduced all of them to poverty and irrelevance. Unable to pay proper rents, taxes or to improve their land and families. As such over the course of a few generations, prosperity is gone.
Now this no doubt stems from the idea of false equality and that this would allow all children to gather a prosperous future. But those who would make such an argument often fall flat to realize that in the past; fathers, grandfathers and other providers’ secured education and position for secondary sons outside of the immediate estate inheritance. That could be in the army, navy, civil service or if one was from a poorer community, simply in the form of moving on to a separate trade. This allowed the younger children to pursue careers in other areas, creating a family and providing for them, while preserving the estate and its entails, allowing the estate to remain profitable and provide for the future generations. Under the current inheritance law, this is still doable for a generation, maybe even two if the estate is large even. After that generation, when the estate is in the hands of the grandchildren, they no longer receive enough revenue to afford sending their children to receive an education.
Today however, with our inheritance laws this is no longer a possibility, as the estate must be split into five parts for five sons. So now instead of one son in charge of the estate, while the other sons provided service to the King and Kingdom, we now have five sons who all are in charge of a much smaller estate. Furthermore then we often see what has now become absentee landlords, presiding over their estates while serving in the army, civic services or other industries and neglecting their farms. This neglect reduces otherwise able farmland which could be presided over by the eldest son, to produce a low income and for the overall estate to fall into disrepair. It makes France poorer, young men who could go into new industries that are springing up all over France, instead now are bound to the land where they are becoming poorer and poorer by each generation. It reduces each estate from a profitable business down to the disturbing condition of being chipped away at for each generation, until it can no longer sustain itself.
It cannot be expected or sustainable of the Crown to supply the French farmers with new equipment, quite frankly the idea in and off itself is disgusting and unsustainable. Each estate must produce enough income to be able to modernize their practices, and as long as they are split apart upon each inheritance this is an impossible task. The revenue needed to sustain the estate, along with the revenue needed to hire new workers, equipment and tools are no longer gained. As the land has been split, it is no longer possible to gather enough income by each member of the family to buy the required needs, to sustain themselves for the future. As more and more estates face poverty, the continued quality of the French agriculture will falter and decline. Where other landowners such as in Britain are able to keep all their lands united and as such continue their estates generation after generation, it is impossible in France.
The law of inheritance is one which plagues all of France, not just the high but also the low. The peasants are likewise unlikely to survive under the current laws as their estates die out much sooner, thus only being large enough to supply mayhaps two generations before they are too small to sustain themselves. Thereby forcing the peasants to sell their farms and become destitute. If the estates and farms stay with one family member under the rule of primogeniture, then the estates can stay united and continue to gather enough income to exist in the future, while also modernizing alongside the rest of Europe. Capital to modernize while experimenting with new techniques is hard enough as it is. Therefore if France is to rise, the government must ensure that the laws of inheritance stop dividing the wealth, stability and futures of these estates and farms.
It must be the government’s duty to change the inheritance laws of France back to primogeniture, even if the pill is hard to swallow. If this is not doable, then the second best and ensure that the testator can confer the entire estate and the vast majority of wealth unto a single child. To ensure that the estates are not put at risk by a father’s death and a family’s future destroyed. Removing the current requirement that each child receives an equal share is the only way to preserve the future of France, its peasants, nobility and all in between alike. Should the issue be ignored, then in sixty years, most farms and estates shall have been split two or three times already. The estates will already be too divided by then to support the needed adaptation of newer methods that France shall need. Remove the current laws which may be made with good intentions, but shackles the population of France to poverty and financial ruin. It is often forgotten that before the inheritance laws which now preside, we did not have four fifths of the French population living in poverty, destitute and without purpose. But they lived with work, purpose and future, while the estates of French countryside remained the envy of the world, instead of its laughing stock. For France to prosper, the changes must be made.
Louis Henri Joseph, Prince de Condé, Duc de Bourbon, Bellegarde, Buise, Marquis de Graville, Comte de Valery, Seigneur de Beaugé, Chantilly, Château-Chinon, Château-Renault, Montluel, Château d'Écouen, etc., also Prince du Sang
