One of the parts of England which, at the time of its conquest, first submitted peaceably to William of Normandy, was the Saxon Kingdom of Kent, afterward, and now, the County of Kent, the southeastern extremity of England. In consequence of this action the Norman king confirmed its inhabitants in all their ancient laws and liberties. " Kent was firmly attached to the Conqueror by the treaty, which he never broke, that the law of Kent should not be changed.'-

One of the provisions of the law of Kent was the custom or tenure of ' Gafolcund ' or ' Gavelkind,' one of the most ancient of the free socage tenures, by which the greater portion of that county was then, and is now held.

According to this ancient relic of the early Saxon law, the land descended to all the sons equally, was usually devisable by will, did not escheat in case of attainder and execution for felony, and could be aliened by the tenant at the age of fifteen.' It was a freeman's tenure, and so general, though not universal, in the county, that it was considered by the common law of England, and judicially taken notice of by the King's Courts as the " common law of Kent." The only instance in all England of a county having a different common law from the rest of the Kingdom. And it so continues to this day. Much of its area originally gavelkind has been changed by special acts of parliament, or, as it was termed, ' disgaveled,' and thus made knight service land and .subject to the law of primogeniture.* The name is derived from the Saxon word ' gafol,' or 'gavel,' [_the pronunciation of the words being ninilar in aouiid'] \\\\\ch was the Saxon word for rent, " including in that term money, labor, and provisions."^ Gavelkind land therefore means primarily rented land with the privileges above stated.