308 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



in which an order is given to appear before the 

 Queen herself, and it has never been suggested that 

 the old formula should be altered. 1 



The following are a few examples of local sur- 

 vivals which owe their existence to their insignifi- 

 cance : 



(a) Although Cambray has belonged to France 



since the close of the seventeenth century, 

 its diocese includes a small part of Belgium; 

 the ancient religious organization has in 

 this instance survived political changes. 2 



(b) It is not generally known that with certain 



properties situated in Artois consisting 

 chiefly of marsh land the law of primo- 

 geniture still holds good. 3 



(c) Public attention has recently been directed 



to a very curious survival of the political 

 connections which existed during the middle 

 ages between Beam and Spain. Every 

 year, on the 13th of July, the inhabitants 

 of the French valley of Baretous in the 

 Pyrenees, solemnly pay a tribute for the 



1 De Franqueville, Systeme judiciaire de la Grande- Bretagne, 

 p. 23. 



2 Viollet, Hist. du. dr. civ.fr., p. 882. 



3 Errera, Les Masuirs, p. 290. Decision of the Council of 25th 

 February 1779, as regards the castle-wards of Lille, Douai, and 

 Orchies. " Those portions of land which fall or have fallen to each 

 inhabitant as the result of division, shall be inalienable ; no person 

 shall possess two portions. The eldest male of each family, or in 

 default of the eldest male, the eldest female, shall alone inherit 

 the said portions of land." 



