Page 103 - index

uncondiliorial, whilst, if found iii the other, it iinplies that
tlie cnndition was alaays inhcreiit in the gift.
In 1751, the Ordinnncr of Zcliis Xl?., entitled "Ordon-
nace sur les donations "ahich n.doplei1 toitsfiillcxtent,
the law "Si iinqiinm." scttled the 1:iiv of Francte upon t,he
siihject. By Art,. 39 it was etiacted that sll gifts made b>r
persans aho hsd not childrennt the time. af the donation,
'f
de qiiclque valeur que les dites doiiatians puiaseiit Qtre,B
quelque titrï qu'elles aient 4th faites,. . . rlenïfureronl ré-
cnqu&s de &?i'li drnil pur 10 S!Lrce.JianCe. d'lmenfarrl kgilinle du
donotÿur".
This Onlinancc, wliich was framcd :~fter carefiil inqui-
ry into the csistiiig jiiris~>rudcnr!c of liinncc I>y C,hancellor
d'Aguc,sscau, cont,ains a cornpletc code on the subject of
donatioiis, aiid it vas coritrndcd, on ttie par( of the Appel-
lants, that il riught to ùc regnrdod asdnclarato~~ the
of
existing Law. It appears thÿt D'Apueuseau formulatcd cer-
tain questions, and wht theni, 6th cxplanetory letters, to
al1 the Parliaments Extracts aere read frorii thcse lctters
t,o sliu\v thnt t,hc Chanrellor'.: ol>ject ans to reform t,he
discoidant .jicriopmdence of the court,^, so that tlie Iaw
throughout France ùhould t~e uniform. i3ut t,he jurispru-
dence of eacli Pnrliaineril hÿd taken root within its liuuts
forming the law dininist,cred there, and their Lordshilis do
not gst,lier from these letters that the (~hnrcllor supposed
that the contemplat,ed Ordinance rould be a inere declara-
tion of existi~iglaw. IIe sclcîtcd from the jiirispriidence of
cnch Parliament what he coiisidcred to be good, and fit to
k incorpoiatcd int,o th^ genersl tau. he proposed tofranie.
It appcar? thnt the Chaiicellor contemphted the for-
matiou of a getiernl ïi~de of Iaw, and conirnenr~rl with t,he
subject of donations as king, in his vieil,, one of the most
simple and t,he lrast difficiilt. (Sce hi3 letter of the 3rd of
May, 1730: to M. de Machault,, Consei1li.r d'État, who wns
chargeil wit,h making a ~Patiml of tlir obseivatio~ of the
Parlianients arid 0ther.s :sipon the (~iiestionsahich had been
put to theiii). In this lcttrr tlie Clia~icellor~ after staiing