ception of freehold tenure; but I know of no portions for younger children, are obvious. In writer who has ever attempted to explain it facilitating " owelty of partition," its use is except at the expense of the purity of that proved by the number of cases of that kind conception. in the books. It is not certain, however, that tenure alone The constant use of rents as means of in would ever have required a strict definition vestment, etc., where we now should em of the relative rights of lord and vassal in ploy the form of loans upon interest, with or this respect. Very possibly it was not till without mortgage security, is one of the most the doctrine of estates was formed, that men striking facts of the Middle Ages. Formerly began to feel the need of determining to it was explained as a mere device to escape which party the possession belonged. the penalties of usury, the canonists' prohi This, however, is only a hypothetical ex bition of taking interest; as if such men as planation, which must wait for proof or dis the framers and enforcers of the canon law proof until the origin and genealogy of our could have been blinded by such a shallow artifice as repayment by annual instalments common law notions of property and posses sion have been far more carefully studied instead of a gross sum, when this was the than they ever yet have been. It is much real motive! But the insufficiency of this explanation was pointed out long ago.1 easier to see the social and economical func tions of the rents, and to clear away some of The true explanation is that these rents the old misunderstandings that have grown offered the safest form of investment at the up in later times and been made current in time, and that in the yet undeveloped state some of our best books. With a few words of mercantile or personal credit (as we may on this subject, I will close the present study. see in the law of contract), they seemed un doubtedly a more natural transaction than All the wealth of the upper classes, in cluding the church and its great monasteries those which have gradually been developed and foundations, consisted in land, and the out of them by later law. That they were safer than loans in gross, incomes derived from the services rendered by the cultivators of land to the lords of whom may easily be seen. By contemporary law, they held. At the same time the sale of the lender had no claim against landed prop land, especially in the large bodies held by erty, unless the loan was directly charged the lords, was not easy or common. There upon it; and none against the heir or the was no " market " for it in the modern sense estate of the debtor after his death, except to the extent of his chattels. Even when in of the word; it was subject to the approba tion of superiors, and was opposed by the England the heir was expressly bound by the pride of iarge possessions. A very natural obligation; it was only effectual while he had consequence of the two facts would be that the inheritance, and there were too many chances of escheat, of forfeiture in many some method should be devised of transfer ring a definite portion of such rents with the ways, or of dissipation to make such a loan secure for a lifetime, or as a permanent in security for their prompt and regular pay ment, that the landlord himself had, and other vestment. If the lender took a mortgage, he advantages of his position as owner; while entered as a rule into possession, and had all at the same time the possession of the owner the care and labor of managing the property. If allowed to repay himself for this by pock was undisturbed. As a means of raising money, this would eting the profits, he would probably find few solvent borrowers willing to take up money have all the advantages of a modern mort gage, while avoiding the onerous features of on such terms; if required to account for the ancient one. Its convenience in making 1 Eichhorn, Einleitung. 105. Albrecht, Gewere, p 176 family settlements, providing jointures and el seq.
