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.

One of the Manors of the Crown of England was that of East Greenwich in this favored County of Kent which had never been reduced to the new military tenures brought in by the Norman Conqueror, and owed no claim for suit or services or other obli-

' T>l(rbT. 72. 2 Elton's Tunures of Kent, 72.

'DiRliy'ii Hist. Tlpal Property, 38, n. 2.

*Eltou"8 Touures of Kenl jxiij.in. SIbid 29.

gallon than that of fealty and allegiance.* Hence it was that when the tenure of the British grants in America came to be settled, it was described as of our Manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent, that manor being held only " in free and common soccage." The object being to give to the new possessions in America the most favorable tenure then known to English law.

The fixed "service" or "rent" on which New York was held in socage by the Duke of York was the yearly payment of"' forty beaver skins when they shall be demanded or in ninety days after." When the Puke became King in 1685, this nominal rent ceased and he held the Province from that date as Sovereign of England. And under him and his successors, from that v'ear until the peace of 1783, by virtue of this fact New York continued to be a Royal Province, under Royal Governors commissioned by its English monarchs under their signs manual.