valuable light on the more famous of the two systems.

The truth seems to be that, although Ancestorworship had at first a tendency to consolidate the ancient constitution of the Family, its later tendency was to dissolve it. Looking at the Hindu system as a whole, we can see that, as its historical growth proceeded, the sacerdotal lawyers fell under a strong temptation to multiply the persons who were privileged to offer the sacrifices, partly in the interest of the dead ancestor, chiefly in the interest of the living Brahman. In this way, persons excluded from the ancient family circle, such as the descendants of female kinsmen, were gradually admitted to participate in the oblations and share in the inheritance. Some traces of a movement in this direction are to be found throughout the law-books; and a very learned Indian lawyer (Mr. J. D. Mayne, Hindu Law and Usage,' chap. xvi.) has shown that, wherever in modern India the doctrine of Spiritual Benefit-that is, of an intimate connection between the religious blessing and the civil right of succession-is most strongly held, women and the descendants of women are oftenest permitted to inherit. It is remarkable that the Equity of the Roman Prætor, which was probably a religious before it was a philosophical system, had precisely the same effect in breaking up the structure of the ancient Roman family, governed by the Father as its chief.

CHAPTER IV.

ANCESTOR-WORSHIP AND INHERITANCE.

THE close connection between succession to property after death and the performance of some sort of sacrificial rites in honour of the deceased has long been known to students of classical antiquity. A considerable proportion of the not very plentiful remains of Greek legal argument to be found in the Athenian Orators is occupied with questions of inheritance, and the advocate or litigant frequently speaks of the sacrifices and the succession as inseparable. Decide between us,' he says, 'which of us should have the succession and make the sacrifices at the tomb' (Isæus, 'In the goods of Philoctemon,' Or. vi.) 'I beseech you by the gods and immortal spirits not to allow the dead to be outraged by these men; do not suffer his worst enemies to sacrifice at his grave' (Or. ii.). In a former work I pointed out the number, costliness, and importance of these ceremonies and oblations among the Romans, and I insisted on their probable significance as the source

of the peculiar fictions which cluster round early family law ('Ancient Law,' p. 191). The best explanation, I argued, of the facility with which a stranger can be made a son is that, being admitted to the religious observances, he is not distinguishable .. from a son under his religious aspect. The later experience of the world may show us that in the mere blending of the ideas of inheritance and offering there is nothing to surprise us. It is natural enough. Wherever it has been matter of belief that the surviving members of a dead man's family could do anything to better his lot in the world after death, it has been thought their duty to do it before they entered upon his possessions. The medieval Christian Church held this view of personal or movable property; it was primarily a fund for the celebration of masses to deliver the soul of the owner from purgatory. Upon this doctrine was founded the jurisdiction of our Ecclesiastical Courts, in which all property of this kind vested in the first instance before it could be distributed; and this jurisdiction, coupled with the necessary powers over Executors in the case of Wills, and of Administrators in the case of Intestacies, has descended to the modern Court of Probate. The new light which we owe to the author of La Cité Antique' is his determination of the nature of the divine beings to whom the oblations, which exercised so powerful an influence on Athenian

and Roman heritages, were devoted. They were of course not offered to any one Supreme God. But neither were they offered to the greater deities of the local Pantheon. Le culte des dieux de l'Olympe et celui des Héros et des Mânes n'eurent jamais entre eux rien de commun,' says M. Fustel de Coulanges. The worship was given to the dead, chiefly to the remembered dead who had just passed away into a life not further removed from their late existence than a sleep from reality.

I will note in passing that the excessive expensiveness of the Roman sacra privata, which is the burden of Cicero's complaints in his private letters, seems to be a feature of still surviving ancestor-worship. The writer of a paper I have before quoted (Ningpo and Buddhist Temples ') gives a curious calculation, upon what is probably American missionary authority, of the expenses to which the Chinese are put by worshipping their forefathers. One well entitled to know what he spoke of said that fully thirty millions of dollars are annually expended in China at the three great festivals in honour of the dead, and, with the average expenditure of each family, fully 150 millions of dollars are spent in quieting the spirits.' There is no doubt also that funeral rites and oblations are extremely expensive in India, and I have heard their heavy cost seriously urged as a reason against im-` posing a duty on legacies and successions. The ex

pensiveness of religious observance among Hindus arises from the necessity which it involves of feasting Brahmans, sometimes in multitudes, and making them gifts. The oldest of the law-books strongly inculcate the duty of employing the ministry of Brahmans. Three are especially to be in places of honour at all funeral celebrations, who are to represent the three ancestors worshipped-the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. But many more are to be entertained. 'Pure, with composed mind, and full of ardour,' says Apastamba, he shall feed Brahmans who know the Vedas.' 'He shall feed an uneven number of Brahmans, at least nine,' is the rule of Gautama, or let him feed as many as he is able to entertain.' Some singular but very intelligible texts forbid the worshipper to make these sacred feasts a pretext for entertaining his own relatives. The food eaten at a sacrifice by persons related to the giver is a gift offered to goblins. It reaches neither the Manes nor the Gods. Losing its power to procure heaven, it wanders about in this world, as a cow that has lost her calf runs into a strange stable' (Apastamba, II. vii. 17. 8).

เ

6

ways

in

We have now to consider some of the which the law and custom of ancestor-worshipping societies have been affected by their peculiar faith and religious practice. The first instance of a transformation in law which I will give is one nearly con

G