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 PERPETUITY (Lat. perpetuus, continuous), the state of being perpetual or continuing for an indefinite time; in law the tying-up of an estate for a lengthened period, for the purpose of preventing or restricting alienation. As being opposed to the interest of the state and individual effort, the creation of perpetuities has been considerably curtailed, and the rule against perpetuities in the United Kingdom now forbids the making of an executor interest unless beginning within the period of any fixed number of existing lives and an additional period of twenty-one years (with a few months added, if necessary, for the period of gestation). The rule applies to dispositions of personal property (see ) as well as of real property. There are certain exceptions to the rule, as in the case of limitations in mortmain and to charitable uses, and also in the case of a perpetuity created by act of parliament (e.g. the estate of Blenheim, settled on the duke of Marlborough, and Strathfieldsaye on the duke of Wellington). In the United States the English common-law rule against perpetuities obtains in many of the states; in others it has been replaced or reinforced by statutory rules (see Gray on Alienation, § 42). Charities may be established in perpetuity, and provision may be made for an accumulation of the funds for a reasonable time, e.g. for 100 years (Woodruff v. Marsh, 63 Conn. Rep. 125; 38 Amer. St. Rep. 346). The general tendency of American legislation is to favour tying up estates to a greater extent than was formerly approved.

 PERPIGNAN, a town of south-western France, capital of the department of Pyrénées-Orientales, on the right bank of the Têt, 7 m. from the Mediterranean and 42 m. S. by W. of Narbonne by rail. Pop. (1906), town, 32,683; commune, 38,898. The north-west quarter of the town is traversed by the Basse, a tributary of the Têt, while to the south it is overlooked by a citadel enclosing a castle (13th century) of the kings of Majorca. The chapel is remarkable as being a mixture of the Romanesque, Pointed and Moorish styles. The ramparts surrounding the citadel are the work of Louis XI., Charles V. and Vauban. The sculptures and caryatides still to be seen on the gateway of the citadel were placed there by the duke of Alva. The cathedral of St Jean was begun in 1324 and finished in 1509. The most noteworthy feature in the building is an immense reredos of white marble (early 17th century) by Bartholomew Soler of Barcelona.

In the north of the town commanding the gateway of Notre-Dame (1481) there stands a curious machicolated stronghold known as the Castillet (14th and 15th centuries), now used as a prison. The buildings of the old university (18th century) contain the library and the museum, the latter possessing the first photographic proofs executed by Daguerre and a collection of sculptures and paintings. Statues of François Arago, the astronomer, and Hyacinthe Rigoud, the painter, stand in the squares named after them.

Perpignan is a fortiied place of the first class, and seat of a prefect, a bishop and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a branch of the Bank of France, a communal college for boys, a school of music and training colleges for both sexes. The higher tribunal of Andovic sits at Perpignan. Trade is in wine, iron, wool, oil, corks and leather.

Perpignan dates at least from the 10th century. In the 11th and 12th centuries it was a capital of the counts of Roussillon. from whom it passed in 1172 to the kings of Aragon. Philip the Bold, king of France, died there in 1285, as he was returning from an unsuccessful expedition into Aragon. At that time it belonged to the kingdom of Majorca, and its sovereigns resided there until, in 1344, that small state reverted to the possession of the