131etseq。togiveanabridgedaccountofallthatisknownorhasbeenconjecturedonthesubjectofthat’FeudalisationofEurope’whichhashadtheeffectofconvertingtheMarkintotheManor，theVillage-CommunityintotheFief；andIshallpresentlysaymuchonthenewlightwhichtheancientlawsofIrelandhavethrownontheearlystagesoftheprocess。AtpresentIwillonlyobservethat，whencompleted，itseffectwastomaketheLandtheexclusivebondofunionbetweenmen。TheManororFiefwasasocialgroupwhollybaseduponthepossessionofland，andthevastbodyoffeudalruleswhichclusteredroundthiscentralfactarecolouredbyitthroughout。ThattheLandisthefoundationofthefeudalsystemhas，ofcourse，beenlongandfullyrecognised；
butIdoubtwhethertheplaceofthefactinhistoryhasbeensufficientlyunderstood。Itmarksaphaseinacourseofchangecontinuedthroughlongagesandinspheresmuchlargerthanthatoflandedproperty。Atthispointthenotionofcommonkinshiphasbeenentirelylost。ThelinkbetweenLordandVassalproducedbyCommendationisofquiteadifferentkindfromthatproducedbyConsanguinity。Whentherelationwhichitcreatedhadlastedsometime，therewouldhavebeennodeadlierinsulttothelordthantoattributetohimacommonoriginwiththegreatbulkofhistenants。Languagestillretainsatingeofthehatredandcontemptwithwhichthehighermembersofthefeudalgroupsregardedthelower；andthewordsofabusetraceabletothisaversionarealmostasstrongasthosetraceabletodifferencesofreligiousbelief。Thereis，infact，littletochoosebetweenvillain，churl，miscreant，andboor。
Thebreak-upofthefeudalgroup，faradvancedinmostEuropeancountries，andcompleteinFranceandEngland，hasbroughtustothestateofsocietyinwhichwelive。Towriteitscourseandcauseswouldbetore-writemostofmodernhistory，economicalaswellaspolitical。Itisnot，however，difficulttoseethatwithouttheruinofthesmallersocialgroups，andthedecayoftheauthoritywhich，whetherpopularlyorautocraticallygoverned，theypossessedoverthemencomposingthem，weshouldneverhavehadseveralgreatconceptionswhichlieatthebaseofourstockofthought。Withoutthiscollapse，weshouldneverhavehadtheconceptionoflandasanexchangeablecommodity，differingonlyfromothersinthelimitationofthesupply；andhence，withoutit，somefamouschaptersofthescienceofPoliticaleconomywouldnothavebeenwritten。Withoutit，weshouldnothavehadthegreatincreaseinmoderntimesoftheauthorityoftheState-oneofmanynamesforthemoreextensivecommunityheldtogetherbycommoncountry。Consequently，weshouldnothavehadthosetheorieswhicharethefoundationofthemostrecentsystemsofjurisprudence——thetheoryofSovereignty，orinotherwordsofaportionineachcommunitypossessingunlimitedcoerciveforceovertherest——andthetheoryofLawasexclusivelythecommandofasovereignOneorNumber。Weshould，again，nothavehadthefactwhichanswerstothesetheories——theever-increasingactivityofLegislatures；
and，inallprobability，thatfamoustestofthevalueoflegislation，whichitsauthorturnedintoatestofthesoundnessofmorals，wouldneverhavebeendevised——thegreatesthappinessofthegreatestnumber。
Insayingthatthenowabundantphenomenaofprimitiveownershipopentoourobservationstronglysuggestthattheearliestcultivatinggroupswereformedofkinsmen，thatthesegraduallybecamebodiesofmenheldtogetherbythelandwhichtheycultivated，andthatPropertyinLandaswenowunderstanditgrewoutofthedissolutionoftheselatterassemblages，I