INHERITANCE (In-116111-ans), (Heb. nakh-al-aw').
The laws and observances which determine the acquisition and regulate the devolution of property are among the influences which affect the vital interests of states; and it is therefore of high consequence to ascertain the nature and bearing of the laws and observances relating to this subject, which come to us with the sanction of the Bible. We may also premise tilat, in a condition of society such as that in which we HOW live, wherein the two diverging tendencies which favor immense accumulations on the one hand, and lead to poverty and pauperism on the other, are daily becoming more and more_ de cided, disturbing, and baneful, there seems to be required on the part of those who take Scripture as their guide, a careful study of the foundations of human society, and of the laws of property, as they are developed in the Divine records which contain the revealed will of God.
That will, in truth, as it is the source of all created things, and specially of the earth and its intelligent denizen, man, so is it the original foundation of property, and of the laws by which its inheritance should be regulated. God, as the Creator of the earth, gave it to man, to be. held, cultivated and enjoyed (Gen. i:28, sq.; Ps. cxv: 16; Eccles. v:9). The primitive records are too brief and fragmentary to supply us with any de tails respecting the earliest distribution or trans mission of landed property; but from the pas sages to which reference has been made, the im portant fact appears to be established beyond a question, that the origin of property is to be found, not in the achievements of violence, the success of the sword, or any imaginary implied contract, but in the will and the gift of the com mon Creator and bountiful Father of the human race. It is equally clear that the gift was made not to any favored portion of our race, but to the race itself—to man as represented by our great primogenitor, to whom the use of the Divine gift was first graciously vouchsafed.
(1) Patriarchal Inheritance. The impres sion which the original gift of the earth was calculated to make on men, the Great Donor was pleased, in the case of Palestine, to render, for his own wise purposes, more decided and em phatic by an express re-donation to the patriarch Abraham (Gen. xiii:14, sq.). Many years, how
ever, elapsed before the promise was fulfilled. Nleanwhile the notices which we have regarding the state of property in the patriarchal ages, are few, and not very definite. The products of the earth, however, were at an early period accumu lated and held as property. Violence invaded the possession ; opposing violence recovered the goods. War soon sprang out of the passions of the human heart. The necessity of civil govern ment was felt. Consuetudinary laws accordingly developed themselves. The head of the family was supreme. His will was law. The physical superiority which he possessed gave him the do minion. The same influence would secure its transmission in the male rather than the female line. Hence, too, the rise of the rights of pritno geniture. In the early condition of society which is called patriarchal, landed property had its ori gin, indeed, but could not be held of first impor tance by those who led a wandering life, shifting continually, as convenience suggested, from one spot to another. Cattle were then the chief prop erty (Gen. xxiv:35). But land. if held, was held on a freehold tenure; nor could any other tenure have come into existence till more complex and artificial relations arose, resulting, in all proba bility, from the increase of population and the relative insufficiency of food.
When Joseph went down into Egypt,he appears to have found the freehold tenure prevailing, which, however, he converted into a tenancy at will, or, at any rate, into a conditional tenancy. Other intimations are found in Genesis which confirm the general statements which have just been made. Daughters do not appear to have had an inheritance. If there are any exceptions to this rule they only serve to prove it. Thus Job (the book so called is undoubtedly very old, so that there is no impropriety in citing it in this connection) is recorded (xlii :is) to have given his daughters an inheritance conjointly with their brothers—a record which of itself proves the sin gularity of the proceeding, and establishes our position that inheritance generally followed the male line.