HUNGARY: Entail

Modern surgery gave one Alexander Peter, Hungarian peasant, a bright idea when he wanted to mortgage his 320 acres. Legally that was impossible because the land was entailed for the successive benefit of any children Peasant Peter might beget before 1952. But Farmer Peter wanted to hypothecate some of the property to buy farm machinery. And although married, he had no children, wanted none, expected none. To convince the court which had jurisdiction of his farm that he was going to have none, he had a vasectomy performed on himself. This was only temporary emasculation, ruled the judges, and might be undone by rejoining the ends of the spermatic ducts. So Farmer Peter had himself castrated. Last week at Debrecen, the judges, mindful of the marvels of modern reconstructive surgery, still feared that Peasant Peter might somehow become fertile, trick anyone who lent him money on his entailed acres. They postponed permission to mortgage.