234 SUBDIVISION IN OTHER COUNTRIES 



passed in 1821 is the law still in force under which the work 

 is done. This work has gone on very steadily for a century 

 and some 260,000 farms have been reconstituted on this basis, 

 and whereas the number of plots of land constituting a 

 peasant's holding was formerly often from 20 to 40, the 

 average number is now only 2. Of the total number of 

 260,000 farms mentioned 180,000 of the holders continue to 

 live in the villages, and the other 80,000 holders, with their 

 families, nearly a third part of the peasant land-holders of 

 Sweden, have in the past century quitted the village site to 

 go and live on their lands now united into larger lots.* 



I. Italy. — In Italy the Law of Inheritance allows a land- 

 owner to leave half his property as he likes, but the other 

 half must be divided equally amongst his children. Owing 

 to this law holdings have become much subdivided. 



In 1894 an Act was passed which enabled a land-holder 

 having land, the net income from which was calculated at 

 between 200 and 600 francs per annum, to constitute this 

 land as a "family property". A farm so constituted ceased 

 to be the property of an individual and was held jointly by 

 the family. It also became inalienable and could not be 

 seized for debt. 



In 1910 a further Bill was introduced to facilitate the 

 creation of small farms of from 2^ to 7 acres each, to form 

 which peasants could obtain from the Government loans on 

 easy terms. The farms so formed were to remain indivisible. t 



J. Russia. — The case of Russia is instructive because prior 

 to 1906 a large part of the land was held jointly by families 

 on a system somewhat analogous to the Hindu joint family 



*" Bulletin of Economic and Social Intelligence" for October- 

 November, 1910, published by the International Institute of Agri- 

 culture, Rome. 



+ " Bulletin of Economic and Social Intelligence " for February, 

 1911 ; June, 1915 ; July, 1915, and February, 1917, published by the 

 International Institute of Agriculture, Rome. 



