The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-19 00:00:00

FRENCH COMMERCE.

(From the Journal des Debats.)
The general Table of the Commerce of Prance, with
her Colonies and foreign countries in 1828, prepared by jl
the administration of the Customs, has been published.
The following are extracts :
The amount of general commerce is 607,677,3211:
namely, 3,465 French vessels gauging 346,59 I tons,
242,952,4551. ; 4,122 foreign vessels from the countries
whence the merchants come, 445,704 tons, in vessels from
31A8ssifotpl:aigillipaan9rs:es' Cotton
other countries, 33,019,551 f. ; by land, 205,769,855 E ;
total, 607,677,321 f. Exported, 609,922,632 f. ; diffe-
rence, 2,245,311 f.
The exportation is as follows :--3,341 French vessels
gauging 326,835 tons, 218,963,080 E ; 4,164 foreign ves-
sels, 344,547 tons, 183,127,6001. ; 899 vessels from
other countries, 115,972 tons, 41,916,4481. ; by land,
165,615,504 f.
The special commerce of what France has received for
consumption, and of what has been drawn from the interior
for foreign countries and the Colonies, is thus divided :
Merchandise consumed paying taxes—Materials neces-
sary for trade, 278,590,868 f. ; natural objects of con-
sumption, 136,845,918 E ; manufactured, 38,323,551 f.
--total, 453,760,337 f. French merchandise exported,
natural products, 167,377,012 f. ; manufactured,
343,838,910E—t0ta1, 511,215,922 f. Difference,
57,455,585 f. This does not include the dealings in
money. The imports are, 208,101,075 f. ; exports,
25,571,564 f.
The commerce with the French Colonies and the Indian
fictories is—imports, 67,267,242 f. ; exports, 53,865,997 f.
Difference, 11,400,2451.
The premiunniasnoinel)7p_ortation paid this year amount to
10,
5,725,323 E
590,1791.
932,7801.
54,370 f.
Woven Cotton
Mahogany Furniture 8371.
Acids. 21,787f.
Woollens 2,022,196 f.
Straw Bonnets 124,388f.
Tanned Skins 45,1461.
Lead, manufactured in sheets 19,810f.
Copper, manufactured in sheets l,olBf.

The hay harvest commenced last week at
Crowland, but the crops are very deficient, in consequence
of the long drought : indeed the pastures in that neigh-
bourhood were seldom or ever known so short in the month
of June as they are this year.— Stamford News.

Ft RE.---Yesterday afternoon, about one o'clock
a fire broke out in the house of a gentleman, named Hoe-
KINSON. in Clarges-street, Piccadilly, and burnt a con-
siderable quantity of valuable furniture before the engines,
that hurried to the spot, could succeed in subduing the
flames. The family had gone to Ascot Races, It is not
known in what way the fire originated.

On Saturday Miss F—, a highly respectable
young lady, was proceeding to Ormonde Market, when
passing along Ormonde-quay, and within a short distance
of the place of her destination, she was made the victim
of an attack, as diabolical as it was upcovoked and unac-
countable. A quantity of vitriol was suddenly discharged
at her as if from a squirting gun or some such instrument;
the destructive liquid took effect on her gown, bonnet, and
other parts of her dress, but fortunately her face and per-
son escaped uninjured.—Dublin Morning Post.
The clothing trade of Bradford, Wilts, and its
neighbourhood, is, we regret to find, suffering severely, in
common with other manufacturing places in this district,
from the general commercial depression. One of the
principal factories has just been closed, and a number of
hands have been thus thrown out of employ. Parochial
relief is, in many cases, the only resource of the poor
weavers ; and, as a necessary consequence, the poor-rates
are become so exceedingly heavy in Bradford, as greatly to
degrees the value of landed
property.—Rath Chronicle.

INHERITANCE.
The rules which govern the transmission of
Freehold Estates of Inheritance at Common
Law, on the decease of an absolute proprietor,
in the absence of express disposition by him, are
(for the most part) well understood, and appear
to be well suited to the habits and feelings of the
people.
By these rules an estate descends to the eldest
or only son, or his descendants, if he should be
dead, leaving issue, and next to the second and
other sons, according to priority of birth, and
their .descendants ; in default of sons and their
descendants it descends to daughters in equal
shares, if more than one, and to the descendants.
of any deceased daughters, such descendants
taking the share which would have gone to the
parent if living.
When there is no lineal descendant, the estate
goes to the eldest or only brother of the whole
blood, that is, who was born of the same father
and mother as the deceased proprietor, and to
his descendants, if he should be dead, leaving
issue, and to the other brothers in succession
and their descendants. If there be no brother.
or descendants of a brother, the sisters of the
whole blood succeed in equal shares, and the
descendants of deceased sisters, such descendants
taking their parents' share as before.
In case of the failure of brothers and sisters
and their descendants, it becomes necessary to
inquire whether the deceased proprietor took
the estate himself by inheritance, or whether he
acquired it immediately by a deed or will, or in
technical language was a purchaser.
In the former case the heir is to be sought in
the family from which the estate descended to
the deceased proprietor, that is, either on the
father's side or on the mother's side, as it hap-
pened ; in the latter case the law gives the pre-
yference to the relations on the paternal side,
but if there be none such, then it directs the
inheritance to go to the relations on the Inger-

nal side.
Here occurs a rule, drawn from feudal prin-
ciples, which is at variance with ordinary feelings
and notions, and has been long considered un-
just : every lineal ancestor of the deceased pro-
prietor, whether near or remote, is excluded
from immediately inheriting. An estate may
pass to the younger brother of the father,
and upon his death it may pass to the father
as his heir; but rather than go at once to the
father or the mother of the deceased pro-
prietor, the law directs it to escheat, that is,
to fall, as for want of an heir, to the lord of
whom the land was holden ; that is, in most
cases, to the Crown.
In default, however, of lineal and immediate
collateral heirs and their descendants, the inhe-
ritance is to be traced through the nearest ances-
tor, that is, the father, unless it be a maternal in-
heritance, and if it be a maternal inheritance, the
mother, and it will pass to his or her eldest
brother of the whole blood or his descendants,
and the other brothers in succession and their
descendants ; and if none such, to sisters of the
whole blood and their descendants, in equal
shares as before ; in failure of this line, the next
more remote ancestor on the same side is made
the stock in the same manner, and then the next
more remote, and so on ; the rule being still ob-
served that the paternal line has the preference
in ascending from the first purchaser, and that
up to the first purchaser the inheritance must be
traced back through the line of ancestors by which
it descended.
If heirs in the pure male line ascending from
the first purchaser should fail, then, in compli-
ance with a rule above stated, a female ancestor,
or some ancestor of a female ancestor is to be
made the stock ; and first, it is a rule that such
female ancestor is to be taken on the paternal
side, if any such can be found, and therefore the
brother of the paternal grandmother (the father's
mother) is preferred to the brother of the mother
of the deceased proprietor, he having bee❑ the
first purchaser.
Here sometimes, though rarely, occurs a point
about which a difference of opinion has existed
for a long series of years.
According to some authorities, when a female
stock on the paternal side is to be introduced,
proximity of blood is to have the preference, and
consequently collateral relations of the paternal
grandmother are to be preferred to _collateral rela-
tions of the paternal great grandmother ; accord-
ing to other authorities (and this is the doctrine
maintained by Mr. Justice Blackstone in his
Commentaries,) the pedigree is still to be traced
up as far as possible on the paternal side through
males, and the female ancestor of the remotest
male ancestor is to be preferred as a stock to the
female ancestor of a less remote male ancestor,
the paternal great grandmother to the paternal
grandmother.
On failure of relations on the paternal side
of the first purchaser, the maternal line is let in,
that is, the mother of the first purchaser is con-
sidered as the stock, and her ancestors, first on
the paternal and then on the maternal side as
before. It is to be observed that on failure of
heirs of the last proprietor on the side of the first
purchaser, the estate does not pass to the heirs of
the last proprietor on the other side, but escheats'
as before, so that an estate descended to the
deceased proprietor from his mother, can never
pass to his collateral relations on the father's side.
It has been laid down in the above statement,
that collateral relations in order to be let in to
inherit, must be of the whole blood of the person
from or through whom they are to derive their
claim.

Thus a brother of the deceased proprietor by
the same father, but a different mc,ther, cannot
inherit to the deceased proprietor, whether he
took by purchase or descent. The estate will
rather escheat, and the same is the case with an
uncle half-brother of the father, and so on : this
rule, like that which excludes the lineal ancestor,
has long been felt to rest on no sound prir.ciple,
and to be hard in its operation.
We think that boil these rules may be taken
away, without introducing any uncertainty into
the law of inheritance, or materially impairing its
symmetry.

AND, FIRST, AS TO THE ASCENDING LINE.
It appears desirable that the lineal ancestor
should be let in to the succession in such order

It may be argued in support of such proposal,
that the ancestor, who is likely to be advanced
in life, may be expected to be less capable of
making discreet disposition of the property, that
he may be tempted unfairly to divert it to his
issue by a different marriage, or even to make
some disposition altogether capricious and un-
reasonable; but the dependence of children on
their parents is acknowledged to be salutary ;
and when it is considered that the proposed
change of the law will only come into operation
in the absence of express dispositions, and there-
fore it may be presumed, for the most part,
where no strong reason was felt by the deceased
proprietor for making a disposition, the general
good of the family seems likely to be best con-
sulted by vesting the property in its head, rather
than in any of the younger members, and, as
already observed, less violence will thus be done
to the general system of the law of inheritance.
The same reasons we consider should prevail
against a plan which has been proposed of giving
to the ancestor an interest during his life,only.
SECOND.-AS TO Till HALF BLOOD.

We think it advisable that no distinction
should exist between the whole and the half
blood, except that preference should be given to
the whole blood of the first purchaser, as be-
tween his kindred in equal degree or their de-
scendants, with the exception of a single cace
afterwards mentioned.

The following reasons seem to us sufficient
for putting the whole blood and the half blood
on an equal footing with the above exception :-
Ist. One ancestor only of any couple of an-
cestors, being the person from or through whom
the inheritance descends, it seems needless to
have any regard to the other ancestor. 1 hus, if
land descend from the father to the eldest son,
there seems no reason why it should not pass
from him to the second son, whether born of the
same or another mother.-

2d. The rule is recommended by the principle
of conformity already suggested, as in the trans-
mission of personal estate, the whole blood and
half blood stand on an equal footing, and so in
case of descent of a title of nobility, or of an
estate tail.

3d. The difference between the whole and the
half blood, however well understood by lawyers,
is, it is believed, not familiar to the public ;
lands are therefore liable to be left to descend
contrary to the intention of the owner, and they
are liable to be claimed and to be possessed con-
trary to the law without an evil intention ; and
further, in deducing the title on sales of estates,
the circumstance of the half-blood, being not of
very frequent occurrence, is liable to be over-
looired by those who prepare the abstract of
title, and by those who know nothing of the
pedigree but what is laid before them, and thus
a bad title may be approved of by the advisers of
a purchaser for valuable consideration and ac-
cepted by him ; whatever leads to insecurity of
titles, is of course, independently of other con-
siderations, greatly objectionable.
Some of the above reasons apply with equal
force to the case in which the person who died
seised was himself the purchaser.
The reason which has inclined us to give a
lim;ted preference to the whole blood in this case
is, that when one parent has issue by another
marriage, the connection between the members
of the two families is felt to bo much less than
between the members of each family. If a bro-
ther leave a whole brother or sister, or the issue
of either of these, and also an elder brother by a
different marriage, it would be repugnant -to
common feelings and notions to direct his estate
to descend to the half brother, although if he
left a brother or sister of the half bloo:1, or the
issue of such, and only a more remote relation
of the whole blood,• the proximity of kindred
would seem to give a reasonable preference
the former. It would, be desirable, if, witl
reference to the half blood, a distinction conk
be drawn between the case of a purchaser by his
own act noording to the familiar use of the wort
purchaser, and that of a purchaser in the mer
technical sense of the word, that is, a person wh,
may have succeeded perhaps to the family estate
but is considered as a purchaser, hecause i
comes to him through some deed or will, an
not by inheritance, and in the latter case to pt
the whole and the half blood on an equal footing
It is considered, however, impracticable to fir,,m
a law founded on this distinction, which :;noel
be clear and simple, except, indeed, that a pow(
may be given to the person from whom the lire
perty comes, of directing that, it shall be take
particular line of ance
torsi risf it descendedhereter from
nplaained, in which case w
think the distuiction of the whole and half bloo
may also be taken away.
It is proposed, therefore, that the whole bloo
of the first purchaser, who took without ref(
rence to any ancestor, shall be preferred, as b(
tween persons claiming through the same mice:
for of the first purchaser to the half blood, an
that subject to this preference, the distinction ht
tween the whole and the half blood shall be ab(
lished,

TIIIRD.-AS TO TIIE FCIIALE ANCESTOR.
With respect to the question as to tlic preft

renee of the nearer or more remote fen-tale ances-
tor on the paternal side, the case having, it is
understood, occurred more than once since the
Commentaries were published, it seems expe-
dient to settle it, and the symmetry of the rules
of inheritance appears most consulted by adopt-
ing the rule laid down by Mr. Justice Black-
stone. It is proposed to declare this to be the
law, and to extend it of course to the case of di-
rect.assent, so that the mother of the paternal
grandfather would be preferred to the mother of
the father. Four tables are subjoined, one show-
ing the present order of inheritance as laid down
by Mr. Justice Ilackstone; the others, showing,
the order of inheritance according to the pro-
posed alterations.

FOURTIL-LIMITATION TO SPECIAL HEIRS.

The rule above mentioned which directs that
where the inheritance passes to collateral rela-
tions of the last proprietor, those only are ad-
mitted to take who are of the blood of the first
purchaser, occasioning an estate to pass some-
times in a different channel where the deceased
owner had inherited the estate, and where he had
acquired it by what the law denominates pur-
chase, although the distinction is often, as has
already been observed, only technical, introduces
complexity, and sometimes causes anomalous di-
versities in the transmission of estates.

Thus, if a person acquired an estate imme-
diately under a will or settlement made by his
maternal ancestor, that 'estate would descend to
his relations on the father's side, and would not
return to the family from which it came, until
the father's line were exhausted. On the other
hand, if it came from a maternal ancestor by de-
scent, strictly so called, all the relations on the
paternal side would be excluded ; and rather
than pass to them, the estate would escheat. In
consequence again of a principle of Courts of
Equity, that a man cannot be a trustee for him-
self, and that where the beneficial estate is in the
same party with the legal estate, it is absorbed
by the latter, cases have occurred where the
course of descent of an inherited estate, the title
to which was equitable, has been changed by the
accident of the mere legal estate (that is, what
may be called the fetittous estate of the trustee)
descending from the other line of ancestors, and
absorbing the equitable estate. An additional
inconvenience arises from the occasional nicety
of the distinction between strict descent and pur-
chase, according to the technical sense of the
latter word, a circumstance which sometimes makes
the channel of descent a matter of question.
It has been proposed to remedy these incon-
veniences by considering every person who dies
owner of an estate of fee simple, as the stock
from whom alone the inheritance is to be traced
as if he had been first purchaser.
It is apprehended, however, that such a rule
would occasionally produce very objectionable
conseq,-ences. Thus, if an heiress died under
age, leaving
child who should also die under
age, and without ;sue,
the estate would neces-
,
eerily be carried from Or family to the family of
Al,“ husband.
This proposal therefore is not recommended
as a general rule.
It has, however, occurred to us, that a person
devising or settling an estate in fee simple, might
be allowed to direct that the donee or devisee
should take the estate as if it had come to him
from a particular ancestor, that an estate for in-
stance might be given to a man and his heirs on
the part of his mother. The attempt to create
limitations of this nature has been frequently
made ; the law now inibids such limitations in
ants of estates in fee simple, although it allows
thelli on the creation of estates tail. We incline
go the opinion that allowing them in the former
case would be a reasonable enlargement of the
power of absolute proprietors, and would dimi-
Msh the inconveniences produced by the techni-
eal distinction be„tween inheritance and purchase.
This is the ease in which we think the distinc-
tion between the whole blood and half blood of
the purchaser may be abolished..
We think that especial regard should be paid
to the blood of the first purchaser, in a case
which will be liable to occur in consequence of
the admission of the half blood to inherit. If
an estate should descend from a purchaser to his
half brother, it might happen that the heirs of
Alle second brother would he strangers in blood
,to the first, and the heirs of the first brother (at
ii;,lAe death of the second) strangers it Wood to
the second ; this would be the case if the common
parent were illegitimate, and the second brother
:Mould die without issue, gnd there were no other
brother or sister, or the issue pf such, and it
might be the ease under other circumstances.—
.propose to provide for the case by directing
tiske Mberitance to pass to the heir of the first pur-
ehaser, xthen the heir of the last proprietor shall
not be also heir of the first purchaser.
We further think that the last proprietor may
he trewed as if he had been first purchaser, in
he rare case in which the line from which the
ftatate descended to the last proprietor has failed
for the purpose of admitting to the inheritance
his other relations, rather than let it escheat.

It may aeon superfluous to legislate for cases
like these, which may appear very unlikely to
occur in practice; they are found, bowtwer, to
.octiJr in consequence of the acquisition of estates
'y peons of illegitimate birth, vvho have in law
no relations but their own descendants, or by the
ascendants of such, and in consequence of the
loss ,of evidence of pedigree in families of mean
condition or origin.

;Firru.--SEISIN OF AVCESTOR.

A rule of law, founded on feudal principles,
and expressed in the Legal maxim, seisina
Atipitern, directs that inheritance is to be traced
From the person who last died actually seized ;
that is, who was in possession by himself, or a
tenant Cor years, or had received some rent (in
,the case of a freehold lease), or had eitercise.d
some act of ownership ; thus, if the right to an
,estate descended to a person who himself died
without having taken possession, or having had
it by construction of law, the inheritance is to be
traced not from such person, butfrorn the per.ion
who died possessed. This law produces many
anomalous consequences : it makes it sometimes
a mai,ter of chance whether a whole sister or a
half brotilx- of the persoii who last died entitled,
or whether a 1-,:ther, or an uncle, or more remote
relation of the person who last actually enjoyed
the property, shall inhei"jt• and it may happen
that one part of a family estate, havwg been in
the occupation of a tenant, shall go One WI,
another part, as to which the possession ma,'
have remained Ivacant during the time of the per-
son last entitled, shall go another way.
Owing to the circumstances that some species
Of property, as reversions and advowsons, do not
admit of taking actual possession, though an act
of ownership has the effect of taking possession,
and that on the other hand, in most cases which
admit of possession, and as to equitable estates,
the law creates constructive possession, these
anomalies are sometimes inevitable : moreover,

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