cupancy of this ſign or ſymbol was permitted as equivalent to occupancy of the land itſelf. Among the Jews we find the evidence of a purchaſe thus defined in the book of Ruth[1]: "now this was the manner in former time in Iſrael, concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things: a man plucked off his ſhoe, and gave it to his neighbour; and this was a teſtimony in Iſrael." Among the antient Goths and Swedes, contracts for the ſale of lands were made in the preſence of witneſſes, who extended the cloak of the buyer, while the ſeller caſt a clod of the land into it, in order to give poſſeſſion; and a ſtaff or wand was alſo delivered from the vendor to the vendee, which paſſed through the hands of the witneſſes[2]. With our Saxon anceſtors the delivery of a turf was a neceſſary ſolemnity, to eſtabliſh the conveyance of lands[3]. And, to this day, the conveyance of our copyhold eſtates is uſually made from the ſeller to the lord or his ſteward by delivery of a rod or verge, and then from the lord to the purchaſor by re-delivery of the ſame, in the preſence of a jury of tenants.
Conveyances in writing were the laſt and moſt refined improvement. The mere delivery of poſſeſſion, either actual or ſymbolical, depending on the ocular teſtimony and remembrance of the witneſſes, was liable to be forgotten or miſrepreſented, and became frequently incapable of proof. Beſides, the new occaſions and neceſſities, introduced by the advancement of commerce, required means to be deviſed of charging and incumbering eſtates, and of making them liable to a multitude of conditions and minute deſignations for the purpoſes of raiſing money, without an abſolute ſale of the land; and ſometimes the like proceedings were found uſeful in order to make a decent and competent proviſion for the numerous branches of a family, and for other domeſtic views. None of which could be effected by a mere, ſimple, corporal transfer of the ſoil from one man to another, which was principally calculated for conveying an abſolute
