The Teutonic idea of property in land was based on its conquest by a body of men under a leader or chief, -- a successful barbaric invasion. The land so won was considered the common property of its captors, not of the leader alone. He, as chief, had the regulation of the distribution of the conquest among the conquerors, and of the cultivation of the land by the distributees who received it. As he was the leader of this community in war so he was its head in time of peace.

The land thus belonging to the community was in both Holland and England considered as what we should now call "public land." Among the Saxons it was called "folcland," that is, land of the folk, or people. As civilization progressed and Christianity was introduced, the band of barbaric invaders, or tribe, adopted, of necessity, a political organization. The leader became a chief of a district or principality, or king of a petty kingdom ; his followers became his supporters or subjects ; and the land was made the source of revenue, by its being given in separate parcels to individuals in severalty as their private property. Lands so given were granted by a written "book" as it was termed, which was a deed or charter, delivered to the grantee, and it was then said to be "booked '"to him, from which it was called "bocland," that is, booked land. This "book," or grant, stated that the grantee was to hold the land free from all burdens and from any services or money payment, except three, -- military aid in cas-eof invasion, manual, or money aid in the repairing of fortresses, and in the repairing of bridges, which duties were borne by all landholders indiscriminately, and was termed the f7-inoda necessitas, or threefold obligation.