378 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



where the land system has been compUcated by pohtical and 

 social distinctions between classes, by serfdom, and by the 

 communal organisation, Mr. Michell reports that local usage 

 regulates the descent of peasant properties. The law of intes- 

 tacy for the rest of the community is based on equal division, 

 giving males a preference over females. " There is no general 

 law of primogeniture, although in a few great families estates 

 have been entailed under a special law passed in the reign of 

 the Emperor Nicholas. In 17 13 Peter the Great attempted to 

 introduce a general inheritance in fee of the eldest son ; but 

 this was so much opposed to the spirit of the Russian land- 

 owners, that one of the first acts of Peter II was to cancel the 

 ukase of 17 13." 



Under the land laws of most states in the American Union, 

 an owner in fee-simple has nearly the same power of disposition 

 as he would possess in this country, but the rule of equal 

 division prevails in case of intestacy. The results of this system 

 and the reason why they differ so widely from those produced 

 by our own are succinctly described in the following passages of 

 Mr. Ford's report : 



The system of land occupation in the United States of America may be 

 generally described as by small proprietors. The proprietary class throughout 

 the country is, moreover, rapidly on the increase, whilst that of the tenancy is 

 diminishing, and is principally suppUed by immigration. The theory and 

 practice of the country is for every man to own land as soon as possible. The 

 term of landlord is an obnoxious one. The American people are very averse 

 to being tenants, and are more anxious to be masters of the soil, and are 

 content to own, if nothing else, a small homestead, a mechanic's home, a 

 comfortable dwelling-house in compact towns, with a lot of land of from 

 50 feet by 100 feet about it. In the sparsely peopled portions of the country 

 a tenancy for a term of years may be said to exist only in exceptional cases. 

 Land is so cheap there that every provident man may own land in fee. The 

 possession of land of itself does not bestow on a man, as it does in Europe, a 

 title to consideration ; indeed, its possession in large quantities frequently 

 reacts prejudicially to his interests, as attaching to him a taint of aristocracy 

 which .is distasteful to the masses of the American people. 



The landowner in the United States has entire freedom to devise his 

 property at will. He can leave it to one or more of his children or he may 

 leave it to a perfect stranger. In the event of his dying intestate, his real 

 estate is equally divided amongst his children without distinction as to sex. 



