As it existed in England, it was brought full grown from France at the Norman Conquest ; ' and "it may be described as a complete organization of society through the medium of land tenure, in which from the King down to the lowest land owner all are bound together by obligation of service and defence: the lord to protect his vassal, the vassal to do service to his lord ; the defence and service being based on, and regulated by, the nature and extent of the land held by the one or the other. As it developed territorially, the rights of defence and service were supplemented by the right of jurisdiction. The lord judges, as well as defends, his vassal ; the vassal does suit as well as service to his lord. In States in which feudal government has reached its utmost growth, the political, financial, judicial, every branch of public administration, is regulated by the same conditions. The central authority is a mere shadow of a name. -

It grew up from two sources, the beneficiary system and the practice of commendation. " The system testifies to the country and causes of its birth. The beneficium is partly of Roman and partly of German origin.^ In the Roman system the usufruct, the occupation of land belonging to another person, involved no diminution of the status (the condition) of the occupier ; in the Germanic system he who tilled land that was not his own was imperfectly free. Commendation on the other hand may have had a Gallic or Celtic origin, and an analogy only with the Roman clientship." *