By: Hegel (Simple)

Hegel (Simple) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:00:30 +0000

§ 306: The Inalienable Inheritance

For this estate to fulfill its political task, its wealth must be independent.

Independent of what?

Of the wealth of the state. Of the uncertainty of trade and the greed for profit. Of the favor of the government and the favor of the multitude. Even of its own arbitrary will.

How does this work?

Those called to this task give up two rights that other citizens have. They may not dispose of their property freely. And they may not leave it to their children in equal shares. The land passes undivided to the firstborn. It is an entail: an inheritance that no one may sell.

A sacrifice:

The entail is desirable only for political reasons. It demands a sacrifice so that the firstborn can live independently. The state should not rely only on a disposition that may or may not be there. Whoever has wealth of his own can act freely for the state. But if the political institutions are missing, the entail is only a fetter.

Summary: The wealth of this estate should be wholly independent. So it becomes an inheritance that no one may sell, and it goes to the firstborn. This is a sacrifice for the political purpose.

By: Eduard Gans (Additions)

Eduard Gans (Additions) — Wed, 29 May 1833 14:23:38 +0000

This estate has a will that subsists more on its own account. On the whole, the estate of landed proprietors will differentiate itself into its more cultivated part and the peasant estate. Meanwhile, opposed to both kinds stand the estate of trade, as dependent on and directed toward need, and the universal estate, as essentially dependent on the state. The security and firmness of this estate can be further increased through the institution of entail, which, however, is desirable only from a political point of view, for it involves a sacrifice made for a political end, namely that the firstborn may live independently. The justification of entail lies in this, that the state should not reckon on a mere possibility of disposition, but on something necessary. Now disposition is of course not bound to a fortune, but the relatively necessary connection is that whoever has an independent fortune is not restricted by external circumstances and can thus come forward unhindered and act for the state. Where, however, political institutions are lacking, the establishment and favoring of entails is nothing but a fetter placed upon the freedom of private right, to which the political sense must be added, or else it moves toward its own dissolution.

Comments on: 306

By: Hegel (Simple)

By: Eduard Gans (Additions)