other_paths (
other_paths) wrote in
les_miserables2014-04-12 05:21 pm
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Inheritance question
Hello
I've been lurking silently around this fandom for a while, and have decided to put a toe in by asking a question about French inheritance law.
As I understand it under the Civil Code / Napoleonic Code people were (I think still are?) very restricted in how they could leave their money, it has to go to descendents or in the absence of descendents to the nearest collateral relatives. Yet part of the Marius plot in Les Miserables depends on Marius' grandfather and aunt being able to disinherit him, it's the threat of disinheritance that causes Marius' father to give him up, and there are repeated suggestions later that the money might go to Cousin Theodule instead.
So am I missing something? Was there a way Marius' family could disinherit him? Or is Hugo just ignoring bits of law that don't suit his plot?
I've been lurking silently around this fandom for a while, and have decided to put a toe in by asking a question about French inheritance law.
As I understand it under the Civil Code / Napoleonic Code people were (I think still are?) very restricted in how they could leave their money, it has to go to descendents or in the absence of descendents to the nearest collateral relatives. Yet part of the Marius plot in Les Miserables depends on Marius' grandfather and aunt being able to disinherit him, it's the threat of disinheritance that causes Marius' father to give him up, and there are repeated suggestions later that the money might go to Cousin Theodule instead.
So am I missing something? Was there a way Marius' family could disinherit him? Or is Hugo just ignoring bits of law that don't suit his plot?
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I don't know much about the legal facts of the period, but I suspect this is the case, to be honest...
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I agree that Hugo is certainly capable of ignoring bits of law (or history, or chronology, or internal timelines) that don't suit him. It may also be that if the rules were sufficiently complicated, then maybe very few people who weren't inheritance specialists really understood it, and then Gillenormand's threat only had to be plausible to himself and to Georges Pontmercy, not 100% accurate for legal restrictions.
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So if it wasn't possible, I think Hugo THOUGHT it was possible? Probably it was like a lot of law-- not easy, but possible with the right hired experts. And Gillenormand's definitely in a position to unleash the bees and hounds--er, lawyers.
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