_trinoda necessitas_, so much
spoken of, which was to attend the king in his expeditions, and to
contribute to the building of bridges and repair of highways, never
bound the lands by way of tenure, but as a political regulation, which
equally affected every class and condition of men and every species of
possession.

[Sidenote: Gavelkind.]

The manner of succeeding to lands in England at this period was, as we
have observed, by Gavelkind,--an equal distribution amongst the
children, males and females. The ancient Northern nations had but an
imperfect notion of political power. That the possessor of the land
should be the governor of it was a simple idea; and their schemes
extended but little further. It was not so in the Greek and Italian
commonwealths. In those the property of the land was in all respects
similar to that of goods, and had nothing of jurisdiction annexed to it;
the government there was a merely political institution. Amongst such a
people the custom of distribution could be of no ill consequence,
because it only affected property. But gavelkind amongst the Saxons was
very prejudicial; for, as government was annexed to a certain possession
in land, this possession, which was continually changing, kept the
government in a very fluctuating state: so that their civil polity had
in it an essential evil, which contributed to the sickly condition in
which the Anglo-Saxon state always remained, as well as to its final
dissolution.

FOOTNOTES:

[49] They had no other nobility; yet several families amongst them were
considered as noble.

[50] Arma sumere non ante cuiquam moris, quam civitas suffecturum
probaverit.--Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 13.

[51] Nihil autem neque publicae neque privatae rei nisi armati
agunt.--Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 13.

[52] Caeteri robustioribus ac jam pridem probatis aggregantur.--Id. ibid.

[53] Illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriae ejus as
signare, praecipuum sacramentum est.--Id. 14.

[54] Deputed authority, guardianship, &c, not known to the Northern
nations; they gained this idea by intercourse with the Romans.

[55] Jud. Civ. Lund. apud Wilk. post p. 68.

[56] Spelman of Feuds, ch. 5.

[57] Fuerunt etiam in conquestu liberi homines, qui libere tenuerunt
tenementa sua per libera servitia vel per liberas consuetudines.--For
the original of copyholds, see Bracton, Lib. I. fol. 7.

[58] Ibi debent populi omnes et gentes universae singulis annis, semel in