Four kinds of property were distinguished. The first consisted of
seigneurial domains. Those possessing them, whether nobles or commoners,
ecclesiastical or lay, were to form the first class. Ordinary property,
as against seigneurial property, was to be divided into three classes.
A more natural division would have consisted of no more than two,
namely, rural and urban property, given by the nature of the employments
associated with them and the ensuing balance of interests. All the
trades, arts, manufacturing industries, etc. could then have been included
in the latter class, along with the houses. But it was doubtless thought that
the time was not yet ripe to merge ordinary ecclesiastical property with
either of these other two categories. Thus it was deemed to be necessary
to leave the clergy’s ordinary, non-seigneurial property as a separate class.
This formed the second kind of property. The third included rural property,
while the fourth consisted of property situated in towns