And equally in all countries of civilization was the division of society into classes of diverse grades, and the existence of an aristocracy, the only one known, established, and existing; and every State and government then in being was based upon it. How futile then is the idea, that to these New Netherland charters of Freedoms and Exemptions is owing the introducing of all these institutions into what is now the State of New York. Had neither of these charters ever existed the "seeds" of all three of these institutions would have found their way thither because they were simply the universal institutions of the highest human civilization at that era.
The reason why it was possible for the liberal fiefs of New Netherland to be created, was the nature of the investiture required to establish the Patroons in their rights, the seizin or delivery of possession to them established by the charters. This in the old fiefs, and under the feudal system, in Europe generally, was by an act of the lord upon receiving the oath of fealty and the homage of the tenant or vassal, at w^hich time the latter also presented the lord with a fine, that is, a gift of some small article or thing as a token of his fidelity. In the New Netherland fiefs by virtue of the charters this whole matter was changed. The delivery of the grant of the fief by the Governor and Council itself was the livery of seizin, or investiture, of the possession in the Patroon.