Chapter 7: The Tale of the Poor Sisters (II)

In the novel "Pride and Prejudice", the author Jane. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Info Austin mentions the main character, the Bennet family, a family of five daughters and no sons, who have the greatest worries about the future: "Almost all of Mr. Bennet's possessions are in one property, from which he can earn two thousand pounds a year. Speaking of this inheritance, it is really a misfortune for his daughters. Since he had no sons, his inheritance had to be inherited by a distant relative. ”

For modern Chinese readers, there is obviously no way to figure out this inexplicable inheritance method from these simple narratives of the novel. The plot of the novel shows us that in that era in England, daughters actually had the right to inherit property, for example, Mrs. Bennet's father used to be a lawyer and gave her an inheritance of several thousand pounds. Madame de Baul inherited a large amount of land and nobility after her husband's death, and planned to pass it on to her daughter. So, why are the five Bennet sisters so unlucky that they can't inherit their father's estate and house?

The answer is simple, in late eighteenth-century England, women did have the right to inheritance. But if the inheritance is land, it's troublesome. Because in England in this era, land was not simply property, but still theoretically a fief given by the king, and had to be linked to feudal obligations.

Ever since William I crossed the sea to conquer England and established the Normandy dynasty, successive English kings have become the ultimate owners of the land in the country. About one-seventh to one-fifth of the country's land is the crown domain, which is directly administered by the king, and the rest of the land is used by the king to reward his courtiers. In the time of William I, there were about 1,400 noble vassals who were directly divided into lands by the king, and they reciprocated their land on the condition that they served the king: each knight's fief must provide at least one fully armed knight per year to serve the king for 40 days, and the 12 earls should provide 40 to 60 knights, and the 140 barons should provide 10 to 40 knights. There are also wartime soldiers, horses, weapons, labor, etc.; and the collection of money for the king's weddings and funerals, called "helps", which were later converted into coins for which the lords paid a fixed amount each year; After the death of a vassal, the heir to inherit the fief had to pay an inheritance tax to the king, which was later fixed as the income of the fief for two years.

The king of England then allowed each of his noble vassals to divide his fiefdom down to the next class of minor nobles and knights, and in the case of the fiefdom, the obligations to the king were transferred with the land, and then to the obligations to the noble lords—the so-called "vassals of vassals are not my vassals." In this way, the land of England was divided into four or five levels, and each manor had several levels of lords, and the complexity of the obligations attached to these lands can be imagined.

In the long history that followed, these fiefdoms inevitably had to be transferred and inherited, and the law allowed it, but the various obligations assumed also had to be transferred. When each piece of land is divided and transferred, the burden of obligations after decomposition must be carefully explained. For example, after a knight divided and sold his manor to many people, the feudal obligations of providing horses, saddles, weapons, armor, and sending troops to fight and serve in labor to the higher lords or kings were also distributed to the new landlords after the land was decomposed. Some landlords need to pay horses, some landlords need to pay armor, and some landlords have military service, and in case of war, they need to send men to serve as soldiers...... As a result, English land law is one of the most complex land laws in the world, full of bizarre and embarrassing provisions: for example, a landowner must pay a tribute of several flowers to the royal family every year, because the land was originally granted by a royal gardener......

With a general understanding of the complex land system in Britain, you can understand the inexplicable inheritance law in Pride and Prejudice.

- Because much of the land was subject to feudal obligations, this was true even in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when the novel was written. Other feudal obligations could gradually be replaced by money, but the estates that were prescribed for military service could not be replaced by money. The Bennet family's estate, on the other hand, was limited to the obligation of a man to serve, so it could only be inherited by men. This kind of estate, which could only be inherited by men, was called limited inheritance, or "limited inheritance", and was a very common phenomenon in Britain at that time. This ancient and complex land law was not completely reformed until 1925, more than a century later......

It is evident that when Mr. Bennet inherited the land, he also signed an inheritance agreement, like his father and grandfather, which stipulated that his land could only be passed on to his son, and if he had no son, the land would be inherited by the older male relative closest to him, so that the new heir could take on the military service and servitude that could only be performed by men, which were linked to the land, and which in fact had long since ceased to exist, though more than seven hundred years had passed. At this time, Britain had already replaced the feudal army with a conscription system, but the law was the law, and the limited inheritance land with such a service obligation could not be passed on to the daughter, and it was absolutely not allowed to be bought and sold.

And Mr. Bennet apparently did not have the good fortune of his grandfather and father, he had no son! (Analogous to the shogunate period in ancient Japan, if a samurai did not have a son, he could not pass on the fief to his daughter, let alone sell the land, but could only adopt his son or pass it on to his nephew.) So, after the death of Mr. Bennet, his cousin William. Collins would inherit his land and house, while his five daughters were swept away......

No matter how bad Mr. Bennet's relationship with Collins' cousin is, and how much he loves his daughters at the same time......

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In any case, when they learned that the wicked guest of Cousin Collins was about to visit, and that he was most likely coming to collect the house, the five sisters looked at each other for almost a quarter of an hour, and for that quarter of an hour they barely moved.

It wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that Jane was the first to react, "...... Wait a minute! Didn't you say that you have to be seven years after your disappearance before you can pronounce a verdict of death? Even we can't get the Bennets' frozen deposits in the bank, so how can he inherit the Bennet family's land in Longborne? ”

“…… The person concerned has been missing for seven years before he can be declared dead, which is just a practice in the current Britain, not an iron rule, and it can still be bypassed as long as you think of an idea, especially in our special case - the Bennets did not go to sea for a long voyage, nor did they go to a foreign country to get separated on the battlefield, but disappeared in the city of London, and in terms of common sense in today's society, it is definitely a bad luck to not show up for several months in a row......"

Elizabeth rubbed her forehead, as Jane. A lover of Austen's novels, she had read a lot of material on this before the time travel, and had managed to discuss some issues with Uncle Philip, who was a lawyer, after the time travel, "...... If the lawsuit really starts, as long as his lawyer can convince the court and the jury, our cousin Collins can completely let the court prove the death of the Bennets in advance, and even in the name of thinking about us - if the Bennets are not declared dead, we will not be able to inherit the dowry left by our mother, and it ......will be difficult to find a good family."

- The law of the United Kingdom and the United States is the law of the sea, which pays more attention to old precedents and is more flexible. China, on the other hand, has a civil law system, which pays more attention to the legal provisions themselves and is relatively rigid. So in the English courts, the role of a good lawyer is particularly significant.

“…… But that also means we'll be kicked out of the house by him! Can't you fight for it? Mary frowned as well.

“…… In fact, if we carefully pick out the letter of the law, we don't take care of it. Because this estate was still legally a reward from the king to the knight in exchange for the fiefdom in which he served. Now that the male owner who can serve has disappeared, the real estate is occupied by a group of women who cannot serve, and the male heir who can serve does not receive the income from the real estate, which in itself is similar to the illegal act of withholding military salaries and stealing state-owned assets......"

Elizabeth spread her hands, "...... If Mr. Collins is willing to sign a declaration that he is not only willing to assume the military service and labor bound on the property, but also that he will return the property to the village of Longborne immediately and unconditionally if Mr. Bennet returns safely, then even the most impartial judge will award the property to him...... And we all know that Mr. Bennet will never come back......"

“…… You can't be too pessimistic, in the Pride and Prejudice novel, Pastor Collins is portrayed as stupid, ridiculous, and very self-righteous, but at least he is a good and good man...... I don't think it's going too far, right? Jane said uncertainly.

“…… At that time, Mr. Collins was already a pastor, with a decent status and a stable income, and he had just become a pastor, so he had to maintain a good image of kindness, gentleness, and generosity, otherwise he would probably not be able to sit firmly in the pastor after only a few months.

Besides, according to the plot of "Pride and Prejudice", Mr. Bennet was still there at that time, but he was a gentleman of status, and no one could say how long Mr. Bennet would live - although the average life expectancy in Britain in this era was short, there were also many old birthday stars who could really live to be seventy or eighty years old, such as Wellington, the 'Iron Duke' who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo...... As long as Mr. Bennet was alive, he had no hope of inheriting the estate. Therefore, the priest Collins in the novel has to behave very forbearingly, because no matter how much trouble he makes, it is useless. ”

Elizabeth sighed, "...... And now Mr. Collins seems to be nothing, and his title is only the heir to the estate of Longborne Village, without the drag of the priesthood, even if his face is ugly. In order to get the inheritance, even if the means are more out of line, it can be understood in this society: there are many relatives who have fought for the inheritance in these years, and it really hurts to talk about money! ”

Such a pessimistic forecast made the women very depressed, but helpless - under the constraints of the current law, no matter what they did, it was useless. Even if they had managed to murder Mr. Collins by breaking the jar and breaking the jar, the inheritance of the land would have passed to another, more distant relative...... If there is no male to inherit, the land must be handed over to the king......

So, they could only try to comfort themselves and think about the good of things—even if the house and the property in Longborne Village were about to be taken away by the Collins cousin. Even every piece of furniture is no longer owned by law. But on the other hand, with the initiation of the inheritance process, Mrs. Bennet's dowry of five thousand pounds frozen in the bank, and Mr. Bennet's coffin book of more than two thousand pounds frozen in the bank, they can also take it out. With so much money by your side, it shouldn't be too bad.

But even so, the tragic prospect of being evicted from their homes leaves none of them optimistic......

First said goodbye to the familiar modern world, and now I have to lose my home in this world, what the future will be, it is really infinitely confused.

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After another sullen afternoon, Elizabeth. Bennet was ready to go out for a walk and change his mood a little.

At this time, it is already dusk, the sunset in the west is dyed red by layers of cloud mantles, the distant forests and lakes shine with golden red brilliance in the sun, the spring breeze blows, the tired birds return to their nests, in a crisp and cheerful birdsong, the horses are running, the cattle and sheep are strolling, the ducks are splashing in the water, the mountains are verdant, the scenery is charming, it can be said that the lakes and mountains are beautiful, like a realistic and artistic oil painting collection, fully filled with the classic British countryside style.

Looking at the beautiful scenery in front of her, Elizabeth's mood couldn't help but improve a little, so she held a novel book in her hand, walked out of the door, walked through the white clothes drying in the backyard, and was about to walk out of her yard, but suddenly stopped and was stunned.

Because, in front of her eyes, there were three uninvited guests who should not exist in this era.

A young man dressed in a modern camouflage uniform with an automatic rifle on his back and two devil female GIs who are also wearing camouflage uniforms...... Well, the kind with a very devilish figure, a very foul bust and a look that can make a man charming, is standing at the door of the courtyard of Bennet's house.

The man at the head of the group looked at her for a moment with a book and a strange instrument, then coughed dryly and came up with a smile, "...... Ahem, hello, this young lady, are you the traverser here? We're here to rescue you......"

Listening to this sentence in Mandarin Chinese, the time-traveling version of Elizabeth. Bennet was stunned at first, then burst into tears.

“…… You guys...... Why are you here now?! Do you know what kind of life we've been having?!! ”

- To be honest, compared with those unlucky people who are struggling in the zombie apocalypse, the smoke of war and the prison cells of sadistic maniacs, it is only in the quiet and comfortable English countryside that the five Bennet sisters have lived in the countryside of the era of industrial civilization a few months ago, and they are already in a blessing......