Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/231

 SIZE OF LAND HOLDINi$ the eldest son, and the younger children do not avail themselves of their undoubted right to claim their pars legitima, though it is, of course, usual that some sort of provision is made for them." During the past 0 years much work has been done in Germany in the .way of creating holdings on an economic basis. This to Land Commissions which have and resettling peasants vork has been entrusted been created by the legislative enactments of various States dating from the seventies and eighties. In Prussia eight (]eniral Commissions exist 'for settling !and on an economic basis either by the sub-diision o! large es.tes, by restriping or by the occu- pation and improvement of waste lands. The aggregate area of the economic holdings so formed is about 1,850,000 acres. The eeononic holdings so formed -.ay not be. s]b- divided nor may they be dded o the lands of large !and- holders. A short account  may be given of the work undertaken by the Commission in West Prussia where the main problem is to divide up !rge estates into small ones and to settle peasant farmers on improved waste lands. This Commission was founded by a !zw of 18.86 .which gave the Commission certain powers and placed at ts dsposal a fund o! 100,000,000 marks. With this money the Commission buys large estates, divides them into suitable small farms, and contributes to the neeessa,y expenses of the settlements. These small farms, are given out.. (1) on lease for definite periods, (2) on freehold, on payment of the price, (8) on purchase by insraiment, and subject to certain definite conditions. System No. () is the most popular. By a law of 1896 the small farms, so formed, eau be sub-divided or separated into parts only with the consent o! the Commission. They can be transferred to persons outside the family of the holder only with the consent of the Commission, but this consent can be refused only when the effect of the transfer would be to merge the farm in a larger estate. To preserve the farm in tact the law of 1896 subjects these farms to special laws of inheritance differing from the principle of equality of heirs as established hy the German Civil Code of the same year. The law lays down that in the absence of testamentary disposition the holding passes intact to the principal heir, and other heirs can obtain only limited shares in the form of annuities. By 1908 the funds t the disposal of this Commission had been raised to 550,000,000 marks. In purchasing Ind  Bulletin o! Economic and Social Intelligence for March 1917, published by he International Institute of Agriculture, Rome.' 2 Ibid., December, 1912.