CHAPTER I.

THE THREE RULES OF INHERITANCE.

Property in the Status of Savagery.—Slow Rate of Progress.—First Rule of Inheritance.—Property Distributed among the Gentiles.—Property in the Lower Status of Barbarism.—Germ of Second Rule of Inheritance.—Distributed among Agnatic Kindred.—Improved Character of Man.—Property in Middle Status.—Rule of Inheritance imperfectly Known.—Agnatic Inheritance Probable. 523