78 SATURDAY LK(:TUiU-:S. 



marriage and its system of kinship, a change from descent 

 in the female to descent in the male line occurs, and with 

 this change the control of the family is relegated to the hus- 

 band and father, and rapidly this control becomes absolute, 

 and the patriarchal family is established, in which the father 

 has power of life and death over his wives and children and 

 all their descendants, but gradually this power is regulated 

 by law. 



A method by which descent is changed from the female 

 to the male line, that is, by which mother-right is changed 

 to father-right, appears among the North American Indians. 



When the gentes of which a tribe is composed do not live 

 in a compact village but are spread over a large area of 

 country, so that each gens lives alone separated b}^ miles of 

 distance from the others, the consanguineal relatives of the 

 wives, who are the guardians and masters of the family^ are 

 not present and cannot exercise control. Under such cir- 

 cumstances authority is gradually assumed by the husbands 

 and the line of descent is ultimately changed. There may 

 be other methods by which this change is made. 



PROPERTY LAW. 



Property law is naturally divided into two classes — prop- 

 erty in chattels and property in land. 



To a large extent in primitive society chattel property is 

 communal — owned by classes or clans, but a few articles, 

 such as clothing, ornaments, some implements and utensils 

 are owned by individuals, yet no large accumulation of 

 these things is permitted to the individual. Under these 

 circumstances barter and sale are clogged because individ- 

 uals cannot freely exchange — the consent of two bodies of 

 persons being necessary therefor. As industries are differ- 

 entiated, that is, in the first beginning of the differentiation 

 of labor, articles are exchanged by regulation — the price is 

 always the legal price. Inheritance is by clan, not from 

 parent to child. 



In the progress of social organization communal chattels 

 become personal property. Inheritance by clan gradually 

 becomes inheritance by nearest of kin, and, finally, wills are 



