*a It is true that these laws belong
to civil affairs; but they ought nevertheless to be placed at the head
of all political institutions; for, whilst political laws are only the
symbol of a nation's condition, they exercise an incredible influence
upon its social state. They have, moreover, a sure and uniform manner of
operating upon society, affecting, as it were, generations yet unborn.

[Footnote a: I understand by the law of descent all those laws whose
principal object is to regulate the distribution of property after the
death of its owner. The law of entail is of this number; it certainly
prevents the owner from disposing of his possessions before his death;
but this is solely with the view of preserving them entire for the heir.
The principal object, therefore, of the law of entail is to regulate the
descent of property after the death of its owner: its other provisions
are merely means to this end.]

Through their means man acquires a kind of preternatural power over the
future lot of his fellow-creatures. When the legislator has regulated
the law of inheritance, he may rest from his labor. The machine once put
in motion will go on for ages, and advance, as if self-guided, towards a
given point. When framed in a particular manner, this law unites, draws
together, and vests property and power in a few hands: its tendency is
clearly aristocratic. On opposite principles its action is still more
rapid; it divides, distributes, and disperses both property and power.
Alarmed by the rapidity of its progress, those who despair of arresting
its motion endeavor to obstruct it by difficulties and impediments;
they vainly seek to counteract its effect by contrary efforts; but it
gradually reduces or destroys every obstacle, until by its incessant
activity the bulwarks of the influence of wealth are ground down to the
fine and shifting sand which is the basis of democracy. When the law of
inheritance permits, still more when it decrees, the equal division of
a father's property amongst all his children, its effects are of two
kinds: it is important to distinguish them from each other, although
they tend to the same end.

In virtue of the law of partible inheritance, the death of every
proprietor brings about a kind of revolution in property; not only do
his possessions change hands, but their very nature is altered, since
they are parcelled into shares, which become smaller and smaller at each
division. This is the dire