Only in the extreme case of an estate amounting to more than £2,000 a year for each son, is the division to be equal (unequal division not being needed, in that case, to give the eldest the full £1,000 a year). The purpose of the inheritance clause of the Agrarian was simply to reduce, into conformity with the £2,000 a year maximum (which was permanently established by the other main clause of the Agrarian), those few estates which now exceeded the maximum, and to do this in as painless (i.e. as unequal) a way as possible. The 'peculiar end' of the inheritance law was to 'prevent the growing of a monarchical nobility'2 by preventing any new concentration of land in a small nobility.