The Online Library of Liberty

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• An Eulogium On President Montesquieu, By Monsieur D’alembert.
• Preface.
• The Spirit of Laws.
• Book I.: Of Laws In General.
• Chap. I.: Of the Relation of Laws to Different Beings.
• Chap. II.: Of the Laws of Nature.
• Chap. III.: Of Positive Laws.
• Book II.: Of Laws Directly Derived From the Nature of Government.
• Chap. I.: Of the Nature of Three Different Governments.
• Chap. II.: Of the Republican Government, and the Laws Relative to Democracy.
• Chap. III.: Of the Laws Relative to the Nature of Aristocracy.
• Chap. IV.: Of the Relation of Laws to the Nature of Monarchical Government.
• Chap. V.: Of the Laws Relative to the Nature of a Despotic Government.
• Book III.: Of the Principles of the Three Kinds of Government.
• Chap. I.: Difference Between the Nature and Principle of Government.
• Chap. II.: Of the Principle of Different Governments.
• Chap. III.: Of the Principle of Democracy.
• Chap. IV.: Of the Principle of Aristocracy.
• Chap. V.: That Virtue Is Not the Principle of a Monarchical Government.
• Chap. VI.: In What Manner Virtue Is Supplied In a Monarchical Government.
• Chap. VII.: Of the Principle of Monarchy.
• Chap. VIII.: That Honour Is Not the Principle of Despotic Government.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Principle of Despotic Government.
• Chap. X.: Difference of Obedience In Moderate and Despotic Governments.
• Chap. XI.: Reflections On the Preceding Chapters.
• Book IV.: That the Laws of Education Ought to Be Relative to the Principles of Government.
• Chap. I.: Of the Laws of Education.
• Chap. II.: Of Education In Monarchies.
• Chap. III.: Of Education In a Despotic Government.
• Chap. IV.: Difference Between the Effects of Ancient and Modern Education.
• Chap. V.: Of Education In a Republican Government.
• Chap. VI.: Of Some Institutions Among the Greeks.
• Chap. VII.: In What Case These Singular Institutions May Be of Service.
• Chap. VIII.: Explication of a Paradox of the Ancients, In Respect to Manners.
• Book V.: That the Laws, Given By the Legislator, Ought to Be Relative to the Principle of Government.
• Chap. I.: Idea of This Book.
• Chap. II.: What Is Meant By Virtue In a Political State.
• Chap. III.: What Is Meant By a Love of the Republic, In a Democracy.
• Chap. IV.: In What Manner the Love of Equality and Frugality Is Inspired.
• Chap. V.: In What Manner the Laws Establish Equality In a Democracy.
• Chap. VI.: In What Manner the Laws Ought to Maintain Frugality In a Democracy.
• Chap. VII.: Other Methods of Favouring the Principle of Democracy.
• Chap. VIII.: In What Manner the Laws Ought to Be Relative to the Principle of Government In an Aristocracy.
• Chap. IX.: In What Manner the Laws Are Relative to Their Principle In Monarchies.
• Chap. X.: Of the Expedition Peculiar to the Executive Power In Monarchies.
• Chap. XI.: Of the Excellence of a Monarchical Government.
• Chap. XII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XIII.: An Idea of Despotic Power.
• Chap. XIV.: In What Manner the Laws Are Relative to the Principles of Despotic Government.
• Chap. XV.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XVI.: Of the Communication of Power.
• Chap. XVII.: Of Presents.
• Chap. XVIII.: Of Rewards Conferred By the Sovereign.
• Chap. XIX.: New Consequences of the Principles of the Three Governments.
• Book VI.: Consequences of the Principles of Different Governments With Respect to the Simplicity of Civil and Criminal Laws, the Form of Judgements, and the Inflicting of Punishments.
• Chap. I.: Of the Simplicity of Civil Laws In Different Governments.
• Chap. II.: Of the Simplicity of Criminal Laws In Different Governments.
• Chap. III.: In What Governments, and In What Cases, the Judges Ought to Determine According to the Express Letter of the Law.
• Chap. IV.: Of the Manner of Passing Judgement.
• Chap. V.: In What Governments the Sovereign May Be Judge.
• Chap. VI.: That, In Monarchies, Ministers Ought Not to Sit As Judges.
• Chap. VII.: Of a Single Magistrate.
• Chap. VIII.: Of Accusation In Different Governments.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Severity of Punishments In Different Governments.
• Chap. X.: Of the Ancient French Laws.
• Chap. XI.: That, When People Are Virtuous, Few Punishments Are Necessary.
• Chap. XII.: Of the Power of Punishments.
• Chap. XIII.: Insufficiency of the Laws of Japan.
• Chap. XIV.: Of the Spirit of the Roman Senate.
• Chap. XV.: Of the Roman Laws In Respect to Punishments.
• Chap. XVI.: Of the Just Proportion Betwixt Punishments and Crimes.
• Chap. XVII.: Of the Rack.
• Chap. XVIII.: Of Pecuniary and Corporal Punishments.
• Chap. XIX.: Of the Law of Retaliation.
• Chap. XX.: Of the Punishment of Fathers For the Crimes of Their Children.
• Chap. XXI.: Of the Clemency of the Prince.
• Book VII.: Consequences of the Different Principles of the Three Governments, With Respect to Sumptuary Laws, Luxury, and the Condition of Women.
• Chap. I.: Of Luxury.
• Chap. II.: Of Sumptuary Laws In a Democracy.
• Chap. III.: Of Sumptuary Laws In an Aristocracy.
• Chap. IV.: Of Sumptuary Laws In a Monarchy.
• Chap. V.: In What Cases Sumptuary Laws Are Useful In a Monarchy.
• Chap. VI.: Of the Luxury of China.
• Chap. VII.: Fatal Consequences of Luxury In China.
• Chap. VIII.: Of Public Continency.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Condition Or State of Women In Different Governments.
• Chap. X.: Of the Domestic Tribunal Among the Romans.
• Chap. XI.: In What Manner the Institutions Changed At Rome Together With the Government.
• Chap. XII.: Of the Guardianship of Women Among the Romans.
• Chap. XIII.: Of the Punishments Decreed By Emperors Against the Incontinency of Women.
• Chap. XIV.: Sumptuary Laws Among the Romans.
• Chap. XV.: Of Dowries and Nuptial Advantages In Different Constitutions.
• Chap. XVI.: An Excellent Custom of the Samnites.
• Chap. XVII.: Of Female-administration.
• Book VIII.: Of the Corruption of the Principles of the Three Governments.
• Chap. I.: General Idea of This Book.
• Chap. II.: Of the Corruption of the Principles of Democracy.
• Chap. III.: Of the Spirit of Extreme Equality.
• Chap. IV.: Particular Cause of the Corruption of the People.
• Chap. V.: Of the Corruption of the Principle of Aristocracy.
• Chap. VI.: Of the Corruption of the Principle of Monarchy.
• Chap. VII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. VIII.: Danger of the Corruption of the Principle of Monarchical Government.
• Chap. IX.: How Ready the Nobility Are to Defend the Throne.
• Chap. X.: Of the Corruption of the Principle of Despotic Government.
• Chap. XI.: Natural Effects of the Goodness and Corruption of the Principles of Government.
• Chap. XII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XIII.: The Effect of an Oath Among Virtuous People.
• Chap. XIV.: How the Smallest Change of the Constitution Is Attended With the Ruin of Its Principles.
• Chap. XV.: Sure Methods of Preserving the Three Principles.
• Chap. XVI.: Distinctive Properties of a Republic.
• Chap. XVII.: Distinctive Properties of a Monarchy.
• Chap. XVIII.: Particular Case of the Spanish Monarchy.
• Chap. XIX.: Distinctive Properties of a Despotic Government.
• Chap. XX.: Consequence of the Preceding Chapters.
• Chap. XXI.: Of the Empire of China.
• Book IX.: Of Laws, In the Relation They Bear to a Defensive Force.
• Chap. I.: In What Manner Republics Provide For Their Safety.
• Chap. II.: That a Confederate Government Ought to Be Composed of States of the Same Nature, Especially of the Republican Kind.
• Chap. III.: Other Requisites In a Confederate Republic.
• Chap. IV.: In What Manner Despotic Governments Provide For Their Security.
• Chap. V.: In What Manner a Monarchical Government Provides For Its Security.
• Chap. VI.: Of the Defensive Force of States In General.
• Chap. VII.: A Reflexion.
• Chap. VIII.: A Particular Case, In Which the Defensive Force of a State Is Inferior to the Offensive.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Relative Force of States.
• Chap. X.: Of the Weakness of Neighbouring States.
• Book X.: Of Laws, In the Relation They Bear to Offensive Force.
• Chap. I.: Of Offensive Force.
• Chap. II.: Of War.
• Chap. III.: Of the Right of Conquest.
• Chap. IV.: Some Advantages of a Conquered People.
• Chap. V.: Gelon, King of Syracuse.
• Chap. VI.: Of Conquests Made By a Republic.
• Chap. VII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. VIII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. IX.: Of Conquests Made By a Monarchy.
• Chap. X.: Of One Monarchy That Subdues Another.
• Chap. XI.: Of the Manners of a Conquered People.
• Chap. XII.: Of a Law of Cyrus.
• Chap. XIII.: Charles XII.
• Chap. XIV.: Alexander.
• Chap. XV.: New Methods of Preserving a Conquest.
• Chap. XVI.: Of Conquests Made By a Despotic Prince.
• Chap. XVII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Book XI.: Of the Laws Which Establish Political Liberty, With Regard to the Constitution.
• Chap. I.: A General Idea.
• Chap. II.: Different Significations of the Word, Liberty.
• Chap. III.: In What Liberty Consists.
• Chap. IV.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. V.: Of the End Or View of Different Governments.
• Chap. VI.: Of the Constitution of England.
• Chap. VII.: Of the Monarchies We Are Acquainted With.
• Chap. VIII.: Why the Ancients Had Not a Clear Idea of Monarchy.
• Chap. IX.: Aristotle’s Manner of Thinking.
• Chap. X.: What Other Politicians Thought.
• Chap. XI.: Of the Kings of the Heroic Times of Greece.
• Chap. XII.: Of the Government of the Kings of Rome, and In What Manner the Three Powers Were There Distributed.
• Chap. XIII.: General Reflections On the State of Rome After the Expulsion of Its Kings.
• Chap. XIV.: In What Manner the Distribution of the Three Powers Began to Change, After the Expulsion of the Kings.
• Chap. XV.: In What Manner Rome, In the Flourishing State of That Republic, Suddenly Lost Its Liberty.
• Chap. XVI.: Of the Legislative Power In the Roman Republic.
• Chap. XVII.: Of the Executive Power In the Same Republic.
• Chap. XVIII.: Of the Judiciary Power In the Roman Government.
• Chap. XIX.: Of the Government of the Roman Provinces.
• Chap. XX.: The End of This Book.
• Book XII.: Of the Laws That Form Political Liberty, As Relative to the Subject.
• Chap. I.: Idea of This Book.
• Chap. II.: Of the Liberty of the Subject.
• Chap. III.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. IV.: That Liberty Is Favoured By the Nature and Proportion of Punishments.
• Chap. V.: Of Certain Accusations That Require Particular Moderation and Prudence.
• Chap. VI.: Of the Crime Against Nature.
• Chap. VII.: Of the Crime of High-treason.
• Chap. VIII.: Of the Bad Application of the Name of Sacrilege and High-treason.
• Chap. IX.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. X.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XI.: Of Thoughts.
• Chap. XII.: Of Indiscreet Speeches.
• Chap. XIII.: Of Writings.
• Chap. XIV.: Breach of Modesty In Punishing Crimes.
• Chap. XV.: Of the Infranchisement of Slaves, In Order to Accuse Their Master.
• Chap. XVI.: Of Calumny, With Regard to the Crime of High-treason.
• Chap. XVII.: Of the Revealing of Conspiracies.
• Chap. XVIII.: How Dangerous It Is, In Republics, to Be Too Severe In Punishing the Crime of High-treason.
• Chap. XIX.: In What Manner the Use of Liberty Is Suspended In a Republic.
• Chap. XX.: Of Laws Favourable to the Liberty of the Subject In a Republic.
• Chap. XXI.: Of the Cruelty of Laws, In Respect to Debtors, In a Republic.
• Chap. XXII.: Of Things That Strike At Liberty In Monarchies.
• Chap. XXIII.: Of Spies In Monarchies.
• Chap. XXIV.: Of Anonymous Letters.
• Chap. XXV.: Of the Manner of Governing In Monarchies.
• Chap. XXVI.: That, In a Monarchy, the Prince Ought to Be of Easy Access.
• Chap. XXVII.: Of the Manners of a Monarch.
• Chap. XXVIII.: Of the Regard Which Monarchs Owe to Their Subjects.
• Chap. XXIX.: Of the Civil Laws Proper For Mixing Some Portion of Liberty In a Despotic Government.
• Chap. XXX.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Book XIII.: Of the Relation Which the Levying of Taxes and the Greatness of the Public Revenues Have to Liberty.
• Chap. I.: Of the Public Revenues.
• Chap. II.: That It Is Bad Reasoning to Say That the Greatness of Taxes Is Good In Its Own Nature.
• Chap. III.: Of Taxes In Countries Where Part of the People Are Villains Or Bondmen.
• Chap. IV.: Of a Republic In the Like Case.
• Chap. V.: Of a Monarchy In the Like Case.
• Chap. VI.: Of a Despotic Government In the Like Case.
• Chap. VII.: Of Taxes In Countries Where Villainage Is Not Established.
• Chap. VIII.: In What Manner the Deception Is Preserved.
• Chap. IX.: Of a Bad Kind of Impost.
• Chap. X.: That the Greatness of Taxes Depends On the Nature of the Government.
• Chap. XI.: Of Confiscations.
• Chap. XII.: Relation Between the Weight of Taxes and Liberty.
• Chap. XIII.: In What Government Taxes Are Capable of Increase.
• Chap. XIV.: That the Nature of the Taxes Is Relative to the Government.
• Chap. XV.: Abuse of Liberty.
• Chap. XVI.: Of the Conquests of the Mahometans.
• Chap. XVII.: Of the Augmentation of Troops.
• Chap. XVIII.: Of an Exemption From Taxes.
• Chap. XIX.: Which Is Most Suitable to the Prince and to the People, the Farming the Revenues, Or Managing Them By Commission?
• Chap. XX.: Of the Farmers of the Revenues.
• Book XIV.: Of Laws As Relative to the Nature of the Climate.
• Chap. I.: General Idea.
• Chap. II.: Of the Difference of Men In Different Climates.
• Chap. III.: Contradiction In the Tempers of Some Southern Nations.
• Chap. IV.: Cause of the Immutability of Religion, Manners, Customs, and Laws, In the Eastern Countries.
• Chap. V.: That Those Are Bad Legislators Who Favour the Vices of the Climate, and Good Legislators Who Oppose Those Vices.
• Chap. VI.: Of Agriculture In Warm Climates.
• Chap. VII.: Of Monkery.
• Chap. VIII.: An Excellent Custom of China.
• Chap. IX.: Means of Encouraging Industry.
• Chap. X.: Of the Laws Relative to the Sobriety of the People.
• Chap. XI.: Of the Laws Relative to the Distempers of the Climate.
• Chap. XII.: Of the Laws Against Suicides.
• Chap. XIII.: Effects Arising From the Climate of England.
• Chap. XIV.: Other Effects of the Climate.
• Chap. XV.: Of the Different Confidence Which the Laws Have In the People, According to the Difference of Climates.
• Book XV.: In What Manner the Laws of Civil Slavery Are Relative to the Nature of the Climate.
• Chap. I.: Of Civil Slavery.
• Chap. II.: Origin of the Right of Slavery Among the Roman Civilians.
• Chap. III.: Another Origin of the Right of Slavery.
• Chap. IV.: Another Origin of the Right of Slavery.
• Chap. V.: Of the Slavery of the Negroes.
• Chap. VI.: The True Origin of the Right of Slavery.
• Chap. VII.: Another Origin of the Right of Slavery.
• Chap. VIII.: Inutility of Slavery Among Us.
• Chap. IX.: Several Kinds of Slavery.
• Chap. X.: Regulations Necessary In Respect to Slavery.
• Chap. XI.: Abuses of Slavery.
• Chap. XII.: Danger From the Multitude of Slaves.
• Chap. XIII.: Of Armed Slaves.
• Chap. XIV.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XV.: Precautions to Be Used In Moderate Governments.
• Chap. XVI.: Regulations Between Masters and Slaves.
• Chap. XVII.: Of Infranchisements.
• Chap. XVIII.: Of Freed-men and Eunuchs.
• Book XVI.: How the Laws of Domestic Slavery Have a Relation to the Nature of the Climate.
• Chap. I.: Of Domestic Servitude.
• Chap. II.: That, In the Countries of the South, There Is a Natural Inequality Between the Two Sexes.
• Chap. III.: That a Plurality of Wives Greatly Depends On the Means of Supporting Them.
• Chap. IV.: That the Law of Polygamy Is an Affair That Depends On Calculation.
• Chap. V.: The Reason of a Law of Malabar.
• Chap. VI.: Of Polygamy Considered In Itself.
• Chap. VII.: Of an Equality of Treatment In Case of Many Wives.
• Chap. VIII.: Of the Separation of Women From Men.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Connexion Between Domestic and Political Government.
• Chap. X.: The Principle On Which the Morals of the East Are Founded.
• Chap. XI.: Of Domestic Slavery Independently of Polygamy.
• Chap. XII.: Of Natural Modesty.
• Chap. XIII.: Of Jealousy.
• Chap. XIV.: Of the Eastern Manner of Domestic Government.
• Chap. XV.: Of Divorce and Repudiation.
• Chap. XVI.: Of Repudiation and Divorce Amongst the Romans.
• Book XVII.: How the Laws of Political Servitude Have a Relation to the Nature of the Climate.
• Chap. I.: Of Political Servitude.
• Chap. II.: The Difference Between Nations In Point of Courage.
• Chap. III.: Of the Climate of Asia.
• Chap. IV.: The Consequences Resulting From This.
• Chap. V.: That, When the People In the North of Asia and Those of the North of Europe Made Conquests, the Effects of the Conquest Were Not the Same.
• Chap. VI.: A New Physical Cause of the Slavery of Asia and of the Liberty of Europe.
• Chap. VII.: Of Africa and America.
• Chap. VIII.: Of the Capital of the Empire.
• Book XVIII.: Of Laws In the Relation They Bear to the Nature of the Soil.
• Chap. I.: How the Nature of the Soil Has an Influence On the Laws.
• Chap. II.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. III.: What Countries Are Best Cultivated.
• Chap. IV.: New Effects of the Barrenness and Fertility of Countries.
• Chap. V.: Of the Inhabitants of Islands.
• Chap. VI.: Of Countries Raised By the Industry of Man.
• Chap. VII.: Of Human Industry.
• Chap. VIII.: The General Relation of Laws.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Soil of America.
• Chap. X.: Of Population, In the Relation It Bears to the Manner of Procuring Subsistence.
• Chap. XI.: Of Savage and Barbarous Nations.
• Chap. XII.: Of the Law of Nations Among People Who Do Not Cultivate the Earth.
• Chap. XIII.: Of the Civil Law of Those Nations Who Do Not Cultivate the Earth.
• Chap. XIV.: Of the Political State of the People Who Do Not Cultivate the Land.
• Chap. XV.: Of People Who Know the Use of Money.
• Chap. XVI.: Of Civil Laws Among People Who Know Not the Use of Money.
• Chap. XVII.: Of Political Laws Amongst Nations Who Have Not the Use of Money.
• Chap. XVIII.: Of the Power of Superstition.
• Chap. XIX.: Of the Liberty of the Arabs and the Servitude of the Tartars.
• Chap. XX.: Of the Law of Nations As Practised By the Tartars.
• Chap. XXI.: The Civil Law of the Tartars.
• Chap. XXII.: Of a Civil Law of the German Nations.
• Chap. XXIII.: Of the Regal Ornaments Among the Franks.
• Chap. XXIV.: Of the Marriages of the Kings of the Franks.
• Chap. XXV.: Childeric.
• Chap. XXVI.: Of the Time When the Kings of the Franks Became of Age.
• Chap. XXVII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XXVIII.: Of Adoption Among the Germans.
• Chap. XXIX.: Of the Sanguinary Temper of the Kings of the Franks.
• Chap. XXX.: Of the National Assemblies of the Franks.
• Chap. XXXI.: Of the Authority of the Clergy Under the First Race.
• Book XIX.: Of Laws, In Relation to the Principles Which Form the General Spirit, the Morals, and Customs, of a Nation.
• Chap. I.: Of the Subject of This Book.
• Chap. II.: That It Is Necessary People’s Minds Should Be Prepared For the Reception of the Best Laws.
• Chap. III.: Of Tyranny.
• Chap. IV.: Of the General Spirit of Mankind.
• Chap. V.: How Far We Should Be Attentive Lest the General Spirit of a Nation Be Changed.
• Chap. VI.: That Every Thing Ought Not to Be Corrected.
• Chap. VII.: Of the Athenians and Lacedæmonians.
• Chap. VIII.: Effects of a Sociable Temper.
• Chap. IX.: Of the Vanity and Pride of Nations.
• Chap. X.: Of the Character of the Spaniards and Chinese.
• Chap. XI.: A Reflection.
• Chap. XII.: Of Custom and Manners In a Despotic State.
• Chap. XIII.: Of the Behaviour of the Chinese.
• Chap. XIV.: What Are the Natural Means of Changing the Manners and Customs of a Nation.
• Chap. XV.: The Influence of Domestic Government On the Political.
• Chap. XVI.: How Some Legislators Have Confounded the Principles Which Govern Mankind.
• Chap. XVII.: Of the Peculiar Quality of the Chinese Government.
• Chap. XVIII.: A Consequence Drawn From the Preceding Chapter.
• Chap. XIX.: How This Union of Religion, Laws, Manners, and Customs, Among the Chinese, Was Effected.
• Chap. XX.: Explication of a Paradox Relating to the Chinese.
• Chap. XXI.: How the Laws Ought to Have a Relation to Manners and Customs.
• Chap. XXII.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XXIII.: How the Laws Are Founded On the Manners of a People.
• Chap. XXIV.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XXV.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XXVI.: The Same Subject Continued.
• Chap. XXVII.: How the Laws Contribute to Form the Manners, Customs, and Character, of a Nation.

CHAP. XXII.

Of a civil Law of the German Nations.

I shall here explain how that particular passage of the Salique law, which is commonly distinguished by the term, The Salique Law, relates to the institutions of a people who do not cultivate the earth, or, at least who cultivate it but very little.

The Salique§ law ordains, that, when a man has left children behind him, the males shall succeed to the Salique land in prejudice to the females.

To understand the nature of those Salique lands, there needs no more than to search into the usages or customs of the Franks, with regard to lands, before they left Germany.

Mr. Echard has very plainly proved that the word Salic is derived from Sala, which signifies a house; and, therefore, that the Salique land was the land belonging to the house. I shall proceed farther, and examine into the nature of the house, and of the land belonging to the house, among the Germans.

“They dwell not in towns, says¶ Tacitus, nor can they bear to have their habitations contiguous to those of others; every one leaves a space or small piece of ground about his house, which is inclosed.” Tacitus is very exact in this account; for many laws of the* barbarian codes have different decrees against those who threw down this inclosure, as well as against such as broke into the house.

We learn, from Tacitus and Cæsar, that the lands cultivated by the Germans were given them only for the space of a year; after which they again became public. They had no other patrimony but the house, and a piece of land within the† inclosure that surrounded it. It was this particular patrimony which belonged to the males. And, indeed, how could it belong to the daughters? they were to pass into another habitation.

The Salique land was, then, within that inclosure which belonged to a German house; this was the only property they had. The Franks, after their conquests, acquired new possessions, and continued to call them Salique lands.

When the Franks lived in Germany, their wealth consisted of slaves, flocks, horses, arms, &c. The habitation and the small portion of land adjoining to it were naturally given to the male children who were to dwell there. But afterwards, when the Franks had, by conquest, acquired large tracts of land, they thought it hard that the daughters and their children should be incapable of enjoying any part of them. Hence it was that they introduced a custom of permitting the father to settle the estate, after his death, upon his daughter and her children. They silenced the law; and it appears that these settlements were frequent, since they were entered in the formularies.‡

Amongst these formularies I find one∥ of a singular nature. A grandfather ordained by will that his grandchildren should share his inheritance with his sons and daughters. What, then, became of the Salique law? In those times, either it could not be observed, or the continual use of nominating the daughters to an inheritance had made them consider their ability to succeed as a case authorized by custom.

The Salique law had not in view a preference of one sex to the other; much less had it a regard to the perpetuity of a family, a name, or the transmission of land: these things did not enter into the heads of the Germans; it was purely an œconomical law, which gave the house, and the land dependent thereon, to the males who should dwell in it, and to whom it consequently was of most service.

We need here only transcribe the title of the allodial lands of the Salique law, that famous text, of which so many have talked, and which so few have read.

“If a man dies without issue, his father or mother shall succeed him. 2. If he has neither father nor mother, his brother or sister shall succeed him. 3. If he has neither brother nor sister, the sister of his mother shall succeed him. 4. If his mother has no sister, the sister of his father shall succeed him. 5. If his father has no sister, the nearest relation by the male side shall succeed. 6. Not§ any part of the Salique land shall pass to the females; but it shall belong to the males; that is, the male children shall succeed their father.”

It is plain that the first five articles relate to the inheritance of a man who dies without issue; and the sixth to the succession of him who has children.

When a man dies without children, the law ordains that neither of the two sexes shall have the preference to the other, except in certain cases. In the two first degrees of succession, the advantages of the males and females were the same; in the third and fourth, the females had the preference; and the males in the fifth.

Tacitus points out the source of these extravagances: “The sister’s¶ children, says he, are as dear to their uncle as to their own father. There are men who regard this degree of kindred as more strict, and even more holy. They prefer it when they receive hostages.” From hence it proceeds that our earliest historians* speak in such strong terms of the love of the kings of the Franks for their sisters and their sisters children. And, indeed, if the children of the sister were considered, in her brother’s house, as his own children, it was natural for these to regard their aunt as their mother.

The sister of the mother was preferred to the father’s sister; this is explained by other texts of the Salique law. When a† woman became a widow, she fell under the guardianship of her husband’s relations; the law preferred to this guardianship the relations by the females before those by the males. Indeed, a woman, who entered into a family, joining herself with those of her own sex, became more united to her relations by the female than by the male. Moreover, when‡ a man killed another, and had not wherewithal to pay the pecuniary penalty, the law permitted him to deliver up his substance, and his relations were to supply the deficiency. After the father, mother, and brother, the sister of the mother was to pay, as if this tie had something in it most tender. Now, the degree of kindred which imposes the burthens ought also to confer the advantages.

The Salique law enjoins, that, after the father’s sister, the succession should be held by the nearest relation male; but, if this relation was beyond the fifth degree, he should not inherit. Thus a female of the fifth degree might inherit to the prejudice of a male of the sixth: and this may be seen in the∥ law of the Ripurian Franks, (a faithful interpreter of the Salique law,) under the title of allodial lands, where it closely adheres to the Salique law on the same subject.

If the father left issue, the Salique law would have the daughters excluded from the inheritance of the Salique land, and determined that it should belong to the male children.

It would be easy for me to prove that the Salique law did not absolutely exclude the daughters from the possession of the Salique land, but only in the case where they were debarred by their brothers. This appears from the letter of the Salique law; which, after having said that the women shall possess none of the Salique land, but only the males, interprets and restrains itself, by adding, “that is, the son shall succeed to the inheritance of the father.”

2. The text of the Salique law is cleared up by the law of the Ripurian Franks, which has also a title§ on allodial lands very conformable to that of the Salique law.

3. The laws of these barbarous nations, who all sprung from Germany, interpret each other, more particularly as they all have nearly the same spirit. The Saxon¶ law enjoined the father and mother to leave their inheritance to their son, and not to their daughter; but, if there were none but daughters, they were to have the whole inheritance.

4. We have two ancient formularies* that state the case in which, according to the Salique law, the daughters were excluded by the males; that is, when they stood in competition with their brother.

5. Another formulary† proves that the daughter succeeded to the prejudice of the grandson; she was therefore excluded only by the son.

6. If daughters had been generally debarred, by the Salique law, from the inheritance of land, it would be impossible to explain the histories, formularies, and charters, which are continually mentioning the lands and possessions of the females under the first race.

People‡ have been wrong in asserting that the Salique lands were fiefs. 1. This head is distinguished by the title of allodial lands. 2. Fiefs at first were not hereditary. 3. If the Salique lands had been fiefs, how could Marculfus treat that custom as impious, which excluded the women from inheriting, when the males themselves did not succeed to fiefs? 4. The charters which have been cited, to prove that the Salique lands were fiefs, only shew that they were freeholds. 5. Fiefs were not established till after the conquest, and the Salique customs existed long before the Franks left Germany. 6. It was not the Salique law that formed the establishment of fiefs, by setting bounds to the succession of females, but it was the establishment of fiefs that prescribed limits to the succession of females and to the regulations of the Salique law.

After what has been said, one would not imagine that the perpetual succession of males to the crown of France should have taken its rise from the Salique law. And yet this is a point indubitably certain. I prove it from the several codes of the barbarous nations. The Salique law∥ and the law of the Burgundians§ debarred the daughters from the right of succeeding to the land in conjunction with their brothers; neither did they succeed to the crown. The law of the¶ Visigoths, on the contrary* , permitted the daughters to inherit the land with their brothers; and the women were† capable of inheriting the crown. Amongst these people, the regulations of the civil law had an effect on the political.

This was not the only case in which the political law of the Franks gave way to the civil. By the Salique law, all the brothers succeeded equally to the land; and this was also decreed by a law of the Burgundians. Thus, in the kingdom of the Franks, and in that of the Burgundians, all the brothers succeeded to the crown, if we except a few murders and usurpations, which took place amongst the Burgundians.

[§ ]Tit. 62.

[¶ ]Nullas Germanorum populis urbes babitari satis notum est, ne pati quidem inter se junctas sedes; colunt discreti, ut nemus placuit. Vicos locant, non in nostrum morem connexis et cobærentibus æaifictis; suam quisque domum spatio circumdat. De moribus Germanorum.

[* ]The law of the Allemands, c. 10. and the law of the Bavarians, tit. 10. §. 1. and 2.

[† ]This inclosure is called cortis, in the charters.

[‡ ]See Marculfus, l. 2. form. 10. & 12. Append. to Marculf. form. 49. and the ancient formularies of Sirmondus, form 22.

[∥ ]Form. 55. in Lindembroek’s collection.

[§ ]De terrâ verò Salicâ in mulierem nulla portio hereditatis transis, sed boc virilis sexus acquirit; boc est, filii in ipsâ hereditate succedunt. Tit. 62. §. 6.

[¶ ]Sororum filiis idem apud avunculum quam apud patrem honor. Quidam sanctiorem arctioremque hunc nexum sanguinis orbitrantur, & in accipiendis obsidibus inagis exigunt, tanquam ii & animum firmiùs & domum latiùs teneant. De moribus Germanorum.

[* ]See, in Gregory of Tours, lib. 8. c. 18. and 20. and lib. 9. c. 16. and 20. the rage of Gontram at Leovigild’s ill treatment of Ingunda his niece, which Childebert her brother took up arms to revenge.

[† ]Salique law, tit. 47.

[‡ ]Ibid. tit. 61. §. 1.

[∥ ]Et deinceps usque ad quintum genuculum qui proximus fuerit in bereditatem succedat. Tit. 56. §. 3.

[§ ]Tit. 56.

[¶ ]Tit. 7. §. 1. Pater aut mater defuncti, filio non filiæ bereditatem relinquant; §. 4. qui defuntius, non filios, sed filias, reliquerit, ad eas omnis bereditas pertineat.

[* ]In Marculfus, l. 2. form. 12. and in the Appendix to Marculfus, form. 49.

[† ]Lindembroek’s collection, form. 55.

[‡ ]Ducange, Pithou, &c.

[∥ ]Tit. 62.

[§ ]Tit. 1. §. 3. tit. 14. §. 1. & tit. 51.

[¶ ]Lib. 4. tit. 2. §. 1.

[* ]Amongst the Ostrogoths, the crown twice devolved to the males by means of females; the first time to Athalaricus, through Amalasuntha, and the second to Theodat, through Amalafreda. Not but that the females of that nation might have held the crown in their own right; for Amalasuntha reigned after the death of Athalaricus; nay, even after the election of Theodat, and in conjunction with that prince. See Amalasuntha’s and Theodat’s letters, in Cassiodorus, lib. 10.

[† ]The German nations, says Tacitus, had common customs, as well as those which were peculiar to each.