The seventh article of the charter of 1629 says, "There shall likewise be granted to all Patroons who shall desire the same, venia tcstandi, or liberty to dispose of their aforesaid heritage by testament." " All Patroons and feudatories {/undatories were the holders of any part of the fief) shall, on requesting it, be granted " Venia Testandi, or the power to dispose of, or bequeath his fief by Will," is the language of that of 1640. This power alone, as it insured at some time or other the dividing up of all large fipfs, was sufficient to prevent the New Netherland fiefs from ever becoming dangerous, or the source of a great, continued, and oppressive aristocracy.

The "feudal system" of Europe, as such, never

existed in New Netherland. That system however is the basis of the land titles of every civilized country of Europe at this hour, as it was at the discovery of the New World; and, as derived from the various countries of Europe which colonized America, is now the basis of those of the various States of the American Republic. The system of tenure introduced into New York by the Dutch, was divested of all burdensome attributes -- the nova feuda, the new fiefs, by which all the land was there held were purely allodial, with full right in the Patroons to sell in fee in whole or in part, and to devise it in whole or in part by will, free of all charges and incumbrances, except the mere political acknowledgment of the West India Company as the ultimate paramount source of all title, the State. It was the most liberal land system, introduced upon the American Continent; far more so than the English system as introduced into the English Colonies, and the full feudal system, introduced into the American Colonies of France, Spain, and Portugal.