In many instances, every married couple obtains the private enjoyment, for the year, of a small field, the produce of which isexclusively their property. In this they sow hemp or flax, which is spun by the wife, and furnishes sufficient cloth for thewants of the pair and their children. The women also spin the wool of their sheep on a hanging spindle, which they can turnas they walk about and watch their cattle. From this the white or brown woollen stuffs, almost exclusively worn by thesouthern Slavs, are woven. The white garments of the women, embroidered with needlework of the brightest hues, inpatterns which recall the East, have a charming effect. Each family thus produces almost all that its limited and ****** wantsdemand. It sells a few cattle, especially pigs, and buys certain manufactured articles. The fruits of agricultural labour areconsumed in common, or divided equally among the married couples; but the produce of each man's industrial labourbelongs to him individually. Each individual member can thus make himself a small peculium ; and can even be sole owner ofa cow or a few sheep, which go to pasture with the common flock. Hence, private property does exist: but it is not appliedto the soil, which remains the common property of the family association.
The average extent of the patrimony of each community is from 25 to 30 jochs, (3) divided into a great number of parcels,ordinarily the result of periodical partition, long since given up. The stock on such a farm consists of several couples ofdraught-beastsoven or horsesfrom four to eight cows, from fifteen to twenty young beasts, twenty sheep and pigs, and agreat quantity of poultry, the chief article of food. The produce of its lands and flocks is almost always sufficient to supplythe wants of the community. The aged and infirm are supported by the care of their children, so that pauperism, and even,saving rare exceptions, accidental distress, are unknown. When the harvest is very plentiful, the surplus is sold by the gospodar , who gives an account of the use to which he puts the money so received. Individual members or couples purchasethemselves fancy articles or finery, which they are allowed to retain, with the produce of their private industry, or of theirprivate plot. In certain districts the women take the management alternately, each for eight days, of the different householdduties, consisting of cooking and baking, milking the cows, ****** the butter, and feeding the poultry. The manager for thetime being is called redusa , which signifies "she whose turn has come."Communities dwelling in the same village are always ready to lend one another assistance. When a pressing work has to beexecuted, several families join together, and the task is completed with general animation. There is a kind of holiday. In theevening, popular songs are sung to the sound of the guzla , and there are dances on the sward under the tall oaks. TheSouthern Slavs delight in singing, and rejoicings are frequent among them: their life being to all appearance a happy one.
Their lot is secure, and they have fewer cares than Western nations, who strive in vain to satisfy wants which become everyday more numerous and more refined. In their primitive form of society, where there is no inheritance, and no purchase orsale of lands, the desire of growing rich or of changing one's lot hardly exists. Every one finds in the family group the meansof living as his ancestors have lived, and asks no more. The rules of succession, which give rise to so much strife betweenrelations, the greedy desire of the peasant stinting himself in everything to increase his property, the anxiety of theproletarian uncertain of to-morrow's wage, the alarms of the farmer who fears the raising of his rent, the ambition to rise to ahigher position, so frequent in the present ageall these sources of agitation, which elsewhere trouble men's minds, are hereunknown. Existence flows along peaceably and uniformly. Men's condition and the organization of society are not changed,there is nothing which can be called progress. No effort to secure a better or different position is attempted, for the merereason that the possibility of changing the traditional order which exists is not conceived of.
In the juridical point of view, each family community forms a civil person, which can hold property and be party to a suit.
The immoveable property belonging to it forms an indivisible patrimony. When a member dies, there is no succession, exceptin respect of moveables; his children are entitled to a share in the produce of the soil, not by virtue of any hereditary right,but by reason of their own personal right. It is not as representatives of the deceased, but as labouring with the others to turnthe common property to account, that they claim a share in the enjoyment of its produce. (4) No one can dispose of anyportion of the soil by gift or will, inasmuch as no one is actual owner, but only exercises a species of usufruct. It is only inthe case, where all the members of the family but one are dead, that the last survivor can dispose of the property at hispleasure.
If any one leaves the common dwelling to settle definitely elsewhere, he loses all his rights. On her marriage, a young womanreceives a dowry proportional to the resources of the family, but cannot claim any part of the patrimonial property. Thisproperty is, like the majorat, (5) the solid basis on which the continuance of the family rests; it cannot, therefore, bediminished or divided. The widow continues to be supported, but in return she gives her labour. If she remarries, she leavesthe community, and has only a right to dowry. The member who has contributed most to increase the wealth of the zadruga ,may claim a greater share of the common property in case of his leaving it.
In certain districts of the southern Slavs the customs regulating the family communities have received a legal consecration.
