Marcel Claessen wrote: >Re. the Condorcet quote by Hayek: ??? la guerre comme ??? la guerre! I am sympathetic with Marcel's response, but Condorcet's speech does seem to me to be a purely revolutionary / political statement: if we burn all the proofs of land-holdings, nobility, etc., then the nobility can *never* re-establish its control of the country. (If you leave the property records, then the nobility can always assert a claim to their illegitimate hereditary rights and undermine the revolution.) Peter G. Stillman