16 



HINDU LAW IN 



roust throw them into the common fund for equal partition ; 

 and should he refuse to perform his duty in this behalf, his 

 relatives and friends will compel him to follow the custom. 

 No exception to the rule is spoken of. And apparently 

 Father Bouchet had never heard of successful attempts having 

 been made to withhold from partition " acquisitions by 

 science," gifts and the like : doubtless the subtle conceits of 

 the Sanskrit law had not yet been imported into the countries 

 with which he was familiar. 



A curious practice is said to have been followed where 

 partition took place in a family of brothers of whom some 

 were supposed to be clever, some stupid. The stupid brother 

 got a considerably larger share for himself than did the 

 others, on the principle that he was not likely to increase his 

 means by his own personal exertions, whereas his brothers 

 might be supposed to be able to add to their capital. 



Public opinion, as may well be imagined, was decidedly in 

 favour of families keeping together, and in some families divi- 

 sion was an unheard of occurrence. 



" II y a de certaines families ou Ton ne parle jamais de par- 

 tage : les biens sont communs, et ils vivent dans une parf aite 

 intelligence. Cela arrive lorsque quelqu' un de la f amille est 

 assez habille pour la faire subsister. C'est lui qui fait toute la 

 depense : il est comme le superieur des autres qui n'ont d'autre 

 soin que de travailler sous ses ordres : il marie les tils et les 

 petits flls de ses freres, il pourvoit a leurs besoins, aux vete- 

 ments, a la nourriture, &ca. Ce qu'il y a d'admirable, c'est qu'il 

 se trouve quelquef ois des f emmes capables . de gouverner ainsi 

 plusieurs families. J'en ai vu une qui est charged de plus de 

 quatrevingt personnes qu'elle entretenoit des choses neces- 

 saires a la vie." 



In this happy picture one may perhaps recognize the 

 * house' of Cicero (Offic. I, 1, 17) : " Prima societas in ipso con- 

 jugio est ; proxima in liberis, deinde una clomus ; communia 



