第53章

everywhereintheworldtheadvanceofcultivationhasbeenmadethestarting-pointofprivilegedoccupationandlighttaxation。

TheRomanEmpireintroducedtheemphyteusisasacontractinfavourofthepioneersofcultivation，theFrenchfeudallawendowedthehotes(hospites)onnewlyreclaimedlandwithallkindsofadvantages。Englishpracticeisnotsoexplicitonthispoint，butitisnotdifficulttogatherfromtheSurveysthatitwasnotblindtothenecessityofpatronisingagriculturalprogressandencouragingitbyfavourableterms。

Ofmol-landIhavealreadyspokeninanotherchapter。Iwillonlypointoutnowthatthisclassoftenementsappearstohavebeenaverycommonone。Thirteenthcenturysurveysoftendescribecertainholdingsintwodifferentways-onthesuppositionoftheirpayingrent，andalsoonthatoftheirrenderinglabour-services；whentheypayrenttheypaysomuch，whentheysupplylabourtheysupplysomuch。Bythesideofsuchholdings，whicharewavering，asitwere，betweenthetwosystems，wefindtheterraassisaoradcensum。Thisclass，towhichmollandevidentlybelongs，isdistinguishedfromfreetenurebythefactthatitsrentisregardedasamanorialarrangement；thereisnoformalagreementandnocharter，andthereforenoactionbeforetheking’scourtstoguardagainstdisseisinorincreaseofservices。Inpracticethedifferenceisnotfeltverykeenly，andthesetenementsgraduallycametoberegardedas’free’ineverysense。Acharacteristicfeatureofthemovementmaybenoticedintheterms’Socagiumadplacitum’and’Socagiumvillani’。(56*)

Theseexpressionsoccurinthedocuments，althoughtheyarenotverycommon。Itwouldbehardtoexplainthemotherwisethanfromthepointofviewindicatedjustnow。Thetenementispayingafixedandcertainrentandthereforesocage，butitisnotdefendedbyfeoffmentandcharter。Itisnotrecognisedbylaw，andthereforeitremainsatthewillofthelordandunfree。(57*)

Thegrantofacharterwouldraiseittothelegalstandingoffreeland。

Everystudentofmanorialdocumentswillcertainlybestruckbyonewell-markeddifferencebetweenvillaintenementsandfreetenementsasdescribedintheextentsandsurveys。Thetenantsinvillainagegenerallyappeararrangedintolargegroups，inwhicheverymanholds，works，andpaysexactlyashisfellows；sothatwhenthetenementandservicesofsomeonetenanthavebeendescribedwethenreadthattheothertenantsholdsimilartenementsandowesimilarservices。Ontheotherhand，thefreeholdsseemscatteredatrandomwithoutanydefiniteplanofarrangement，parcelledupintounequalportions，andsubjectedtoentirelydifferentduties。Onemanholdstenacresandpaysthreeshillingsforthem；anotherhaseightandahalfacresandgivesapoundofpeppertohislord；athirdispossessedoftwenty-threeacres，pays4s。6d。，andsendshisdependantstothreeboonworks；afourthbringsonepennyandsomepoultryinreturnforhisoneacre。Theregularityofthevillainsystemseemsentirelyopposedtothecapriciousanddisorderlyphenomenaoffreetenure。

Andthisfactseemsnaturallyconnectedwithsomeremarkablefeaturesofsocialorganisation。Nowonderthatfreelandiscutupintoirregularplots：weknowthatitmaybedividedandaccumulatedbyinheritanceandalienation，whereasvillainlandisheldtogetherinrigidunitybythefactthatitis，properlyspeaking，thelord’sandnotthevillain’sland。Besides，allthevariationsoffreetenurewhichwehavediscussedhithertohaveonethingincommon，theyareproducedbyexpressagreementbetweenlordandtenantastothenatureandamountofservicesrequiredfromthetenant。Whetherwetakethecaseofavillainreceivingafewacresinadditiontohisholding，orthatofaservantrecompensedbythegrantofaprivilegedplot，orthatofapeasantconfirmedinthepossessionofsoilnewlyreclaimedfromthewaste，orthatofabondmanwhohassucceededinliberatinghisholdingfromtheburdensomelabourserviceofvillainage，inalltheseinstanceswecomeacrossthesamefundamentalnotionofadefiniteagreementbetweenlordandtenant。Andagain，thecapriciousaspectoffreetenementsseemswellinkeepingwiththefactthattheyareproducedbyseparateandprivateagreements，byconsecutivegrantsandfeoffments，whilethevillainsystemofeverymanorismappedoutatonestroke，andmanagedasawholebythelordandhissteward。Thiscontrastbetweenthetwoarrangementsmayevenseemtowidenitselfintoadifferencebetweenacommunalorganizationwhichisservile，andasystemoffreeholdingwhichisnotcommunal。Alltheseinferencesarenaturalenough，andallhavebeenactuallydraw