Until some degree of security was attained it was futile to dream too
much of individual rights; the inhabitants would have been only too glad
of the co-operation of their neighbours, and whilst some worked others
no doubt stood to arms. Within this area seem to have lain fenced
fields for the shelter of calves and other young animals, but this was
probably the only exception. Beyond the arable land lay a ring of meadow
land; beyond that the stinted pasture; and beyond that again the forest
or waste.

By the term "common" is generally understood common of pasture; it is
not unusual to meet with the phrase "cow commons," as though cows were
the principal, if not the sole, objects which rendered commons of
service. This may well have been the case in later times. In early days
however, there went along with it common tillage, examples of which are
still to be found on the Continent. Traces of the open-field system
exist also in various parts of England, notably between Hitchin and
Cambridge, where there are huge turf balks dividing the fields. It is
said that within the last century the country lying between Royston and
Newmarket was entirely unenclosed, and till quite late in the century
parishes like Lexton, in Northamptonshire, retained this characteristic.
Other examples occur at Swanage in Dorset and Stogursey in West
Somerset.

BOROUGH ENGLISH

Before proceeding to describe the methods of cultivation employed, it is
desirable to glance at a custom which, there is reason to suppose, is
connected with that remote period when the English were not _de jure_
masters of the soil, but occupied the position of colonists, who either
expropriated the original inhabitants or entered upon possession of land
as _res nullius_, to which they had established no solid claim by
prescription. We have already referred to that valuable repertoire of
national customs, so judiciously edited as to merit the higher praise
_in_valuable--the Year-Books. The reports of the pleas in the Common
Bench for 1293 include the following:

"One A. brought a writ of entry against B., saying, 'Into which he had
not entry except by such an one who had tortiously, &c, disseised his
father Robert.' And he laid the descent thus: 'From Robert descended the
right, &c, to Adam the present demandant, as his youngest son and heir,
according to the custom of such a place, &c.'

"_Asseby_: 'Sir, we tell you that Adam has an elder brother named N.,
who is l