The possession of this corner of the land is retained in the Gault family, which, by the labour and economy of its membersand the union of all profits, has accumulated a property of more than 200,000 francs; and besides this portions have beenpaid to females passing by marriage into strange families." (19)M. Dupin points out very clearly the juridical features of these institutions:
"The capital of the community is composed of four parts: first, of the original land; secondly, of acquisitions made withsavings for the common account; thirdly, of beasts and moveables of all descriptions; and fourthly, of the common cash.
Besides this, every one has his pecudium, composed of his wife's portion and the property she has received by successionfrom her mother, or which has been given by gift or legacy. The community only counts males as effective members; theyalone are included in the number of heads in the society. When the daughters marry a portion is given them in cash. Theportions, which were originally very trifling, have risen in recent times to as much as 1350 francs. When once this portion ispaid, the daughters and their descendants have no further claim on the property of the community. As to strange womenwho marry members of the community, their portion is not merged in the common stock, inasmuch as they are not intendedto acquire any personal right in the community. When a man dies, he transmits nothing to any one by succession. There is ahead fewer in the community, which continues unbroken among the others, and takes the portion, possessed by thedeceased, not by any title of succession, but by right of non décroissement, or non-diminution. This is the original,fundamental condition of association. If the deceased leaves children, and they are males, they become members of thecommunity, in which each is reckoned, not by hereditary title, the father having transmitted nothing to them, but from thesole fact that they were born in the community and for its benefit: if they are females, they have only a right to a portion. Thepeculiar, distinctive nature of these communities is well shewn. It differs from that of ordinary conventional associations,where the death of one of the members entails the dissolution of the society, as the industry pursued is optional, andpersonal capacity is requisite in such societies. The ancient community was of another character. It formed a sort ofcorporation or college,a civil person, like a monastery or borough, which is perpetuated by the substitution of newconstituent members, without any change in the actual existence of the corporation, either in its manner of life or in thegovernment of its affairs."
Further on, in the commune of Préporché, M. Dupin found traces of a community once numerous and flourishing, that of theGariots. Since the revolution, it had effected a partition of its property, and the majority of the members had come to ruin.
The large rooms had been divided; the great fire-place was also divided by a partition-wall. Their houses were dirty andpoorly built. The inhabitants, ill-clothed and savage looking.
"At Gault, all was comfort, health, and gaiety; in the Gariot village, all was gloom and poverty.. .I certainly do not deny theadvantage of separate property, and the benefits resulting from everyone having his house, his garden, meadow, and arableland, all well cultivated and well cared for. But well-directed association has also its advantages. I have pointed out its happyeffects, and where it yet exists with good results, my hope is that it may survive with unabated vitality. I believe that, for thecultivation of their farms, it would be especially advantageous for the peasants to hold together. A numerous family issufficient in itself for agricultural operations; if it is weak, it must be supplemented by hired servants, who require highwages, and consume the greater part of the profits, without giving the same attention to the cultivation of the soil or the careof the cattle, as the masters themselves would do. Moreover, the children by remaining with their parents, profit alike bytheir instruction and example; whereas, when separated from them and put to service too young, they are liable tocorruption and often overtaken by destitution. On the other hand, the practice of frequent and excessive subdivision,produces a morcellement , such that the children of the same father can no longer live in the dwelling-house, and thefragments of land become too small to be well adapted to cultivation."M. Doniol has seen several of these rural communities, and he boasts of their excellence as a "social institution," ( Hist. desClasses Rurales , 2nd Edit. p. 164). M. Leplay, in his instructive work, L'Organisation de la Famille , shews minutely theposition of a patriarchal family in Lavedan, and the evils brought upon it by its partial dissolution.
