Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/458

406 degree, he should not inherit. Thus a woman of the fifth degree, might inherit to the prejudice of a male of the sixth: and this may be seen in the law of the Ripuarian Franks, (a faithful interpretation of the Salic law) under the title of Allodial lands, where it follows step by step the Salic law on the same subject.

If the father left issue, the Salic law would have the daughters excluded from the inheritance of the Salic land, and that it should belong to the male children.

It would be easy for me to prove that the Salic law did not absolutely exclude the daughters from the possession of the Salic land, but only in the case where they were excluded by their brothers. This appears from the Salic law itself; which after having said that the women shall possess none of the Salic land, but only the males, interprets and restrains itself, by adding, "that is, the son shall succeed to the inheritance of the father."

2. The text of the Salic law is cleared up by the law of the Riparian Franks, which has also a title on allodial lands very conformable to that of the Salic law.

3. The laws of these barbarous nations, who all sprung from Germany, interpret each other, more particularly as they all have nearly the same spirit. The Saxon law enjoined the father and mother to leave their inheritance to their son, and not to Rh