272 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CHAP. 



" sentiment " of a landowner, as to the continued possession 

 of his estate by his descendants, is so liable to be traversed 

 by his successors that he can hardly be said to have any 

 right or property in it beyond the first or second generation. 

 It is true that in many cases the estates have passed from 

 father to son for centuries ; but this is a rare exception, 

 and has probably only been secured by the law of primo- 

 geniture and the power of entail. When these are 

 abolished, and no man can influence the succession of his 

 land beyond one generation, it is clear that the value 

 of this " sentimental possession " in land will rapidly 

 become a vanishing quantity as we pass beyond the first 

 few generations. For each successive possessor will be free 

 to sell or bequeath it as he pleases, and this freedom will 

 certainly lead to the breaking up of estates, and render all 

 calculations or expectations as to their possible owners 

 three or four generations hence altogether futile. 



It may be admitted, however, that the desire to transmit 

 property to the second or third generation, or to the 

 families of any living person in whom the owner may be 

 interested, is a legitimate sentiment which, though not 

 proper to be forcibly carried into effect by the Government, 

 should yet not be checked, or its realization be rendered 

 altogether impossible, by any act of the Legislature, except 

 to obtain important benefits for the whole people. The more 

 limited desire or sentiment, that a personally occupied 

 estate, such as an ancestral house, farm, or grounds, should 

 long continue in the family, is decidedly one to be encour- 

 aged and aided in its realization, as keeping up the love 

 of home and country, and having a generally good 

 moral and social tendency ; and, as will be seen further 

 on, this is fully recognized in the scheme we are here 

 developing. 



But the power of unlimited transmission of land, in a 

 fixed line, not as a home to be occupied and personally 

 enjoyed, but solely as a source of wealth and social in- 

 fluence, has been shown to be contrary to public policy ; 

 and here, therefore, our main principle will come into 

 operation namely, that whatever may be done legally 

 and equitably by individuals, may also be done by the 



