La tranmission des biens par les femmes: les heritieres en France dans une perspective comparative (XVIIe-XXe siècles)

Abstract

This is a comparative study of the patrimonial, legal and socio-economic conditions under which female transmission patterns take place. The complex case of France during the Ancien Regime is presented and the consequences of the new Code civil (1804) on family strategies of continuity are discussed. A particular attentionis given to stem-family patterns found in Central Pyrenees. The autor stresses the importance of cultural values and shows how different family strategies of continuity may be in different rural contexts, comparing Basque villages and Esparros in the Baronnies region, where women and heiresses play a major role in the perpetuation of the House and intergenerational family transmission.