I am surprised that ancient and modern jurists have not attributed to this law a greater influence on human affairs.

*a It is true that these laws belong to civil affairs; but they ought nevertheless to be placed at the head of all political institutions; for, whilst political laws are only the symbol of a nation's condition, they exercise an incredible influence upon its social state.

They have, moreover, a sure and uniform manner of operating upon society, affecting, as it were, generations yet unborn.
[Footnote a: I understand by the law of descent all those laws whose principal object is to regulate the distribution of property after the death of its owner.

The law of entail is of this number; it certainly prevents the owner from disposing of his possessions before his death; but this is solely with the view of preserving them entire for the heir.
The principal object, therefore, of the law of entail is to regulate the descent of property after the death of its owner: its other provisions are merely means to this end.] Through their means man acquires a kind of preternatural power over the future lot of his fellow-creatures.

When the legislator has regulated the law of inheritance, he may rest from his labor.