all garden (50 by 100 ft. at Freiburg, 60 by 100 ft. at
Bern). These building plots were given as free property or, more
frequently, at a merely nominal rent (_Wurtzins_) with the right of free
disposal, the only obligation being that of building a house. All that
might be required besides would be a common for the pasture of the
burgesses' cattle.

The example thus set was readily followed in the older towns. The
necessary land was placed at the disposal of new settlers, either by the
members of the older agricultural community, or by the various churches.
The immigrants were of widely differing status, many being serfs who
came either with or without their lords' permission. The necessity of
putting a stop to belated prosecutions on this account in the town court
led to the acceptance of the rule that nobody who had lived in a town
undisturbed for the term of a year and a day could any longer be claimed
by a lord as his serf. But even those who had migrated into a town with
their lords' consent could not very well for long continue in serfdom.
When, on the other hand, certain bishops attempted to treat all
new-comers to their city as serfs, the emperor Henry V. in charters for
Spires and Worms proclaimed that in these towns all serf-like conditions
should cease. This ruling found expression in the famous saying:
_Stadtluft macht frei_, "town-air renders free." As may be imagined,
this led to a rapid increase in population, mainly during the 11th to
13th centuries. There would be no difficulty for the immigrants to find
a dwelling, or to make a living, since most of them would be versed in
one or other of the crafts in practice among villagers.

The most important further step in the history of the towns was the
establishment of an organ of self-government, the town-council (_Rat_,
_consilium_, its members, _Ratmanner_, _consules_, less frequently
_consiliarii_), with one, two or more burgomasters (_Burgermeister_,
_magistri civium_, _proconsules_) at its head. (It was only after the
Renaissance that the town-council came to be styled _senate_, and the
burgomasters in Latin documents, _consules_.) As _units of local
government_ the towns must be considered as originally placed on the
same legal basis as the villages, viz. as having the right of taking
care of all common interests below the cognizance of the public courts
or of those of their lord.[5] In the towns, however, this right was
strengthened at an early date