Development of Property. 209 



heed to this self-imposed prohibition and, whenever 

 financial troubles made it expedient, they disposed 

 of some of their holdings. 



By the ordinance of 1566 {Edit de Moulins), King 

 Charles IX again declared the domain of the crown 

 inalienable. Nevertheless he himself in the same year, 

 and repeatedly afterwards, sold parts of his domain. 

 Henry III, in 1579, renewed the ordinance of non- 

 alienation and restored some of the last parcels to 

 the domain by the exercise of the royal right. Him- 

 self and his successors, however, continually broke 

 this contract, and the royal domain decreased while 

 that of the seigneurs grew. Similarly to what hap- 

 pened in Germany, the church property was taken 

 by machination or force to increase the holdings of 

 kings or seigneurs. Nevertheless, at the beginning 

 of the revolution in 1789, the royal domain comprised 

 not more than 1,200,000 acres, producing a net in- 

 come of 1.2 million dollars. Then followed an era 

 of ups and downs, continuous changes of policy, 

 increases and decreases of the property until with 

 the inauguration of the republic, in 1871, comparative 

 stability was secured. 



In 1791, after the revolution, the royal property 

 became national domain, and by further spoliation 

 of church property, and otherwise, attained an area 

 of 4,300,000 acres. In the law of 1791, a distinction 

 was made between the inalienable doma'in, which 

 comprises roads, canals, fortresses, harbors, etc., and 

 the alienable national domain, including the forest 

 and other property derived from royal or crown 

 domains. To this national domain was added, by 



