102 FRANCE - MISCELIvANEOUS 



On this subject, the chambers of notaries, consulted through the at- 

 torneys general of the various appeal courts, came to decisions embodied 

 in the most interesting of the documents. 



These bodies consider, generally, that still too often the persons who 

 might benefit by it are unaware of the law; that it requires too many and too 

 compUcated formalities to be gone through and that above all the formation 

 of a homestead leads, in most cases, to the refusal of all credit to the land 

 holder, who is thus placed in a worse position and even exposed to danger, , 

 rather than in enjoyment of increased security. 



They indicate further a certain number of amendments of a legal cha- 

 racter that might be made in the law to facilitate its apphcation. 



The Government has spared no pains to make the law known as widely 

 as possible, especially by, in two successive years, assigning rewards and 

 special prizes for posters or designs, essays or books relating to the subject 

 of homesteads. It has also prepared a very detailed commentary on the 

 law to serve as a guide and forwarded it to all the chambers of notaries, 

 the magistrates and the registrars of their courts, and many copies are 

 despatched daily to parties applying for them and to the agricultural 

 mutual associations in all the departments. Finally, the agents of the 

 departments dependent on the Ministerial Department have been instructed 

 to insist more and more in their courses of lectures on the benefits 

 the peasant farmers may derive from the institution of the Homestead. 



With regard to the law itself, the Government proposes to examine 

 with the briefest possible delay whether it will not be possible at once to 

 reduce and simplify the formaUties for the formation of homesteads. In 

 addition, it has profited by the occasion offered by the codification of the 

 laws on mutual and agricultural credit, to insert in a bill, which will, 

 within a few days, be laid before the Chamber of Deputies, a special pro- 

 vision enabling the person forming a homestead, in accordance with article 

 2,103 of the Civil Code, to obtain from the mutual agricultural credit banks 

 the amount he requires for the purchase of the small farm he desires to 

 convert into a homestead. This amendment to the law wUl have the 

 effect of temporarily suspending, until repayment of the loan, and in favour 

 only of the mutual agricultural credit bank advancing the money, the 

 undistrainable character of the holding which shall remain pleadable 

 against other parties. It is hoped that this provision will largely 

 contribute to the spread of the institution and happily complete the 

 series of measures by which the Parliament and the Government have 

 attempted as far as possible to defend and protect peasant holdings. 



