As land subject to hereditary lease cannot be divided without the consent of the proprietor, this contract is a natural obstacleto the " morcellement " of lands. It prevents unsuitable cutting up of properties resulting from equal partition, and at the sametime does not, like the majorat, or entail, exclude a division recommended by sound economy, for if the division brings a realadvantage, it needs only an assignment to the proprietor of some share of the profits to obtain his consent.
Those who, struck by the forewarnings of Malthus, fear the excessive increase of population, are likely to be partisans of the beklem-regt , for the system affords an efficient check to it. The number of holdings is limited; and as the sons of thecultivators are accustomed to live in comfort, they only regard marriage as likely to increase the rent of lands, by reason of arash competition, tending to produce morcellement . Having a certain amount of education they emigrate or choose a career;and when they take a wife it is because they have the means of supporting her and the children she may bear them. Thus the beklem-regt is alike favourable to the production of wealth, and tends to limit the number of those who have to share it; andso contributes by a double action to increase the prosperity of the population.
But, it will be said, if this system of leases is superior to the ordinary term of years, it is inferior to ownership. Undoubtedlyit is, in some respects, as the beklemde meyer has to pay a rent, whereas the owner pays none; but there is one greatdistinction in favour of the beklem-regt ; namely, that under this system, the beklemde meyer cultivates for himself whereasthe proprietor would let the land. Suppose the beklem-regt abolished in Groningen, and what would be the result? Here, asin all places where land is very valuable, the owner of half a million francs in the shape of eighty or one hundred hectares ofland, would go and live in a town, grant the cultivation of his land to a tenant, and take care to raise his rent regularly everysix or nine years.
The effect, therefore, of an anomalous right, borrowed from the middle ages, has been to create in Holland and Portugal, aclass of cultivators enjoying all the advantages of ownership, except that they do not retain for themselves the net profit,which is precisely what would have alienated them from cultivation. Instead of tenants fearing to lose their farm, recoilingbefore every costly improvement, concealing their prosperity and dependent on their master, we find, in Groningen, a classof usufructuaries, proud, independent and ****** in habits, but eager for information, appreciating the advantages ofeducation, and neglecting no means of spreading it. They practise agriculture, not as a blind routine or contemptible trade,but as a noble occupation, which brings them fortune, influence, and universal respect. They are economical in their ownwants, but prodigal to their estate; ready to make any sacrifice to drain their land, to rebuild or enlarge their farm buildings,and to procure the best machines and the best strains of animals; and content, moreover, with their condition, because theirlot depends on nothing but their own activity and forethought.
So long, then, as the beklemde meyer cultivates his own land, the hereditary lease produces good results. But, unfortunately,these results fail so soon as in the exercise of his right of sub-letting, he grants to another the right of cultivating his estate,for a rent which he receives, and out of which he pays the holder of the bare ownership. From this time all the disadvantagesof the common lease reappear; and we return to the ordinary conditions, which are found elsewhere, with this difference,that the cultivator has to support two classes of idlers instead of one. Sub-letting was rare in former times, because theprofits derived from cultivation were only sufficient to support the family of the beklemde meyer ; when he cultivated theland himself; but since the rise in the price of all articles of food, and especially since the opening of the English market, theprofits have been so large, that a subtenant can be found ready to pay a rent in excess of that taken by the proprietor.
Under-letting thus came into use,a fact which we cannot but regret having to acknowledge.
In the island of Jersey the same mode of tenure is still m force. In France, in the " terriers " of most monasteries andcathedrals, grants of land are found, the nature of which is indicated by the formula damus in perpetuam emphyteusim . Thiskind of tenure was, therefore, very general. The quevaises likewise had all the characteristics of hereditary leases; but,according to information communicated by M. de Lavergne, the proprietor has gradually acquired the right of ejecting thetenant, on compensating him for the value of the buildings, as determined by an expert.
The bail à domaine congéable is a tenure peculiar to Brittany, where it is especially in force in the usemens of Rohan,Cornouaille, Léon, Broucrec and Tréguier. Its origin is thus explained in Art. 3 of the usemen of Tréguier: "When theproprietor of a house or lands in the country is in want of money, or when he wishes to secure the rent of land at a distance,and not to be troubled with repairs, he grants the land or house in covenant or domaine congéable , on condition of thepayment of a rent and the performance of the usual corvées , to be held in perpetuity, subject, however, to the right of thelord to eject the holder at any time, on paying him such compensation as is appraised." "The condition of this lease," saysMerlin, "is a clause of this sort: ` I grant you the soil IN PRECARIO, and all on the surface in full ownership ;' such a tenureis therefore more advantageous to the tenant than the ordinary lease, inasmuch as he does not lose the improvements, as inthe ordinary lease." (2)
