ABSTRACT
§1. It was pointed out in the last chapter that, for a complete knowledge of the comparative effects of different laws of inheritance, we need to know how custom operates within the limits of such laws. The comparative inequality produced by substantial freedom of bequest on the one hand, and of the law of legitim on the other, depends upon such custom. In this matter our knowledge is at present very imperfect. An analysis of substantial wills in different countries, designed to show the extent to which testators concentrate their property on one inheritor, or spread it among many, the extent to which they leave property to those who are not related to them, and the proportion of their property which they leave for “benevolent” purposes and to institutions, would be very valuable and instructive. But no such analysis seems hitherto to have been attempted. It is an important piece of research, which still awaits a researcher. 1 Very much less important in its effects on inequality, but worthy of a much closer investigation than it has yet received, is the question of how the poor leave what little property they possess.
