368 Glimj)ses of Fmming in the Channel Islands. 
than one, would get more property than each of the sons, the 
latter can insist upon equal division. Even during life, a father 
cannot give to any child more land than would come to him or 
her under the law of inheritance, and any gift of the kind, if ex- 
cessive, can be annulled within one year of the father's death. 
The law of mortgage is so curious that it may be briefly 
mentioned. In the event of an estate being over-mortgaged, the 
last mortgagee can only recover his money by taking up the 
estate and engaging to pay oflP all the burdens upon it. Should 
he refuse, he loses all claim to the sum he has advanced ; and the 
estate is offered to the next mortgagee on the same terms, and 
so on till it finds a proprietor. As all mortgages are registered, 
it is contended that there is no hardship in this law, because 
each successive mortgagee knows what burdens there are upon 
the estate, and if he risks his money in increasing them, he does 
so with his eyes open, and it is only just that he should not be 
able by his folly to diminish the security of earlier mortgagees. 
Not so defensible is the law which makes all parts of the pro- 
perty of a landowner jointly and severally liable for his debts of 
any kind, even including portions leased or sold : so that the 
creditors can come upon the property of the leaseholder or the 
buyer if necessary in order to recover their dues. 
The most common method of paying for land purchased 
greatly facilitates its acquisition by men of small capital. 'J'lie 
purchaser usually pays at least one-fourth of the price of the 
land, and the rest can be paid in what are termed quarters of 
rent, equivalent to a mortgage, but saleable in the open market 
at a fixed rate of interest, a fraction over 4 per cent. There are 
old rents (rentes, more like stocks than what are commonly 
understood by rents in England) of 18/. a quarter, and new 
rents of 20/. a quarter. Formerly the old rents were non- 
transferable, and worth 161. a quarter; but some time ago they 
were made transferable at 18/. The security for old rents is on 
all the real property of the borrower ; whereas on new rents it is 
on only the particular piece of property mortgaged. So long as 
the purchaser of the land pays the interest on the quarters he 
cannot be dispossessed, and he can at any time partly or wholly 
redeem his property from the burden upon it by buying up some 
or the whole of the rents. This he can do when and to any 
extent that may suit his convenience ; while the money can 
never be called in, as it can be in the case of a mortgage. 
Before referring to the prices at which land in Jersey is sold 
and let, it may perhaps be desirable to say a few words about 
the character of the soil and the climate. In a considerable work 
on the Channel Islands, published in 18G3 by W. H, Allen 
