THE SUBDIVISION OF LAND IN OLD BAVARIA 



In 1903 a commission was nominated to investigate the causes of this 

 phenomenon and its consequences. The commission's report states that : 



I. The following are the causes of the excessive subdivision : 



1. The debt burdening landed property, owing to the S3^stem of 

 succession and that of subdividing the lands, that is to say to the high 

 price which the farmer pays for the parcels he buys. 



2. The insufficiency of labour which makes the costs of agriculture 

 heavy, especially in the case of the larger farms having an area of more than 

 twenty hectares. 



3. The speculation of those who increase their profits by subdividing 

 the lands. 



II. The following are the consequences of the excessive subdivision : 

 T. The wasting of woods, for speculators in land cut down the woods 



on a holding before they sell it in parcels. 



2. The withdrawal from agriculture of the circulating capital repre- 

 sented by the profits of speculators which attained to nearly four and. a half 

 million pounds in the period between 1892 and 1904. 



These consequences of subdivision, so detrimental to agriculture, in- 

 duced the Bavarian government to take measures to prevent or at least 

 to impede its progress. The first of these measures dates from about 1850 

 when a law forbidding subdivision by speculators was promulgated. It 

 was however only in force for some years, being repealed about i860, 

 between which date and 1894 subdivision was again unhampered. 



The measures taken by the government in 1894 and 1899 allow subdi- 

 vision but regulate it. Special laws forbid the sale of immature woods and 

 make the .speculator liable for arrears of taxes with which the subdivided 

 lands ma3^ be burdened. 



The commission in 1903 was instructed not only to examine the caiises 

 and consequences of subdividion but also to answer the two following 

 questions : 



1. W^ould it be opportune to forbid subdivision by decree, as was 

 done in Wurtemberg ? 



2. Would it be opportune to offer special privileges to rural banks 

 as inducements to them to substitute themselves for speculators in land ? 



The commission in its report answered the first question in the nega- 

 tive, the second in the affirmative. 



On the basis of this report the law on the subdivision of lands was pro- 

 mulgated on 13 August 1910. Its most important provisions are contain- 

 ed in its first and second articles. 



The fir.st article establishes a right of pre-emption in favour of : 



a) Rural banks of the district. 



b) Credit institutions authorized to such end by the Minister of Agri- 

 culture (the co-operative agriculttiral unions having their headquarters 

 at Munich and Regensburg have also been thus authorized). 



c) The respective communes. 



In order that this right of pre-emption may be valid it must be declar- 

 ed within twenty-one days. 



