Land tenure

“ Land-tenure.—Individual proprietorship of the soil is rare, for, despite the decadence of the zadruga or household community, the tenure of land and the privilege of using the communal domain still appertain to the family as a whole. There are a few large estates, but most of the land is parcelled out in small holdings. ”

“ There was to be a small tenantry holding direct from Government, forbidden to alienate their land, and all leasing of land to tenants was forbidden.
This I understand to be the policy still. It is a policy of fixed ideas, and as applied to anything that has life, like land tenure, it is unfortunate, no matter what the fixed idea be.
If there be one truth above another that is clear in studying land systems it is that no one permanent system is good. The cultivation of land, like all matters, undergoes evolution and change. What is good to-day may not be good to-morrow. ”

“ Thus the feudal method of land tenure, which, since the previous century, had ceased to have much political significance, became economically ineffective, and began to give way to a system more like that which still obtains among us. ”

“ In view of the singular character of the feudal tenure we have described, under which landlord and tenant were associated in a kind of joint ownership, it might have been supposed that advantage would be taken of the opportunity offered by the surrender of fiefs to place the question of land tenure on a clear footing by defining accurately the position of the people, and more especially the cultivators, with regard to the land. ”

“ It is true that it is just these ideas which in our period are on their trial, and that if one were to seek the watershed where the mediæval theory of land tenure, as something contingent on the fulfilment of obligations, parts company from modern conceptions of ownership, as conferring an unlimited right to unconditional disposal by the owner, one would find it in the century and a half between 1500 and the final abolition of feudal tenures in 1660. ”

“ The idea that ownership of the soil is a property like any other is certainly a modern idea. The old notion of land tenure, the outcome of feudal laws, considerably limited the landlord’s rights, by creating, amongst other things, between him and the tenant reciprocal obligations, such as personal or military service; these are no [Pg 95] longer compatible with modern ideas, but we still find persistent traces of them in every country in Europe, and particularly in France. ”

“ It made a form of tenantry or servitude inevitable for the mass of those who labored on the land. It also enabled the landlords to maintain themselves in power as a governing class and kept the tenants and laborers subject to their economic and political control. If land tenure was so significant in Europe, it was equally important in the development of America, where practically all the first immigrants were forced by circumstances to derive their livelihood from the soil. ”

“ One result of the change of land tenure should be noticed. Previously to the great plague of 1349 the land was divided up into small tenancies. An instance taken by Professor Rogers of a parish, where every man held a greater or a less amount of land, is a typical example of thousands of manors all over the country. It shows, he says, "how generally the land was distributed," and that the small farms and portions of land, so remarkable in France at the present day, did prevail in England five hundred years ago. ”

“ The doctrine of tenure applied universally to the land law formed the basis for judicial procedure in determining land rights. Those who held lands "in fee" from the King in turn subinfeudated their land to men of lesser rank. The concept of tenure covered the earl, the knight (knight's service) , the church (frank-almoin [free alms] ) , the tenant who performed labor services, and the tenant who paid a rent (socage) . Other tenures were: serjeanty [providing an implement of war or performing a nonmilitary office] and burgage. All hold the land of some lord and ultimately of the King. ”

“ It is not the present purpose to determine the relative merits of the different systems of land tenure, but to try to be helpful to the beginners by discussing the usual practices in order that he may know whether the arrangement he is considering is customary and whether it is likely to prove satisfactory. ”

“ Commission should characterize this doctrine as “pernicious,” unless a thing is pernicious whenever it is impracticable, is not easy to understand. From the point of view of the nomadic life of the redmen, it is hard to conceive a theory of land tenure, or the want of it, more nearly approaching a perfect ideal. ”

“ Here, as everywhere else throughout France, a great diversity may be seen in the matter of land tenure—peasant properties from five acres upwards, large holdings either let on lease, as in England, cultivated by their owners, or lastly, as in the present instance, managed by farm stewards. The system of métayage, or half-profits, is not in force.
On five acres, my informant told me, a man with thrift and intelligence may rear and maintain a family. The crops are very varied, corn, maize, oats, rye, buckwheat, hay, being the principal. ”

“ Here the nominal ground rent is only part of the total rent which is really paid; the ultimate transference of the buildings representing often the more important part. There is, in fact, a great variety of systems of land tenure, some of which are highly complex, the respective merits of which vary greatly, and which constitute a most important problem for statesmen and legislators. ”

“ The mortgagee or lender of the money then becomes part-owner of the land and capital, so that the arrangement tends to take this form—
66.Tenure of Land in England.. As agriculture becomes more a science, farming will require greater skill, and larger capital, and the English mode of land tenure will probably spread. In this system there is the greatest division of labour, and different ranks of people have shares in the business, somewhat as follows:—
The land is usually owned by some rich man, who likes to have large estates, but does not wish to have the trouble of farming. ”

“ So it happened that the freehold of modest proportions became the cherished unit of American farmers. The people who tilled the farms were drawn from every quarter of western Europe; but the freehold system gave a uniform cast to their economic and social life in America.
Social Effects of Land Tenure.—Land tenure and the process of western settlement thus developed two distinct types of people engaged in the same pursuit—agriculture. ”

“ There certainly is a fundamental difference between this tenure of land as held by civilized men, and that of nomadic roamers or transient squatters over portions of wilderness territory. Precisely what that difference of tenure is, we are to try to define. But it is well for us to anticipate the inquiry by presenting to ourselves in full contrast the claims, usages, and acquired rights of those who by settlement and toil improve the surface of the earth, and those who only skim it. ”

“ Striking as it does at the whole received theory of land tenure, as sanctioned throughout the civilized world by the practice of many centuries, it arrays against itself the prejudices of the most influential classes in every long-established community, and its introduction is necessarily surrounded by difficulties and at least apparent injustices which must indefinitely delay any attempt to bring it to the test of experiment there. ”

“ Such land cannot be sold or parted with without the consent of all the principal owners. This system of land tenure works well until the family or tribe becomes so numerous that the different portions or lots are reduced to a very small area, causing some of the members to seek fresh districts. ”

“ In the first place it is important to observe that, in treating of what we may call generically the tenure of land, it is impossible, in an ancient country like our own, to deal with the question as an abstract one. ”

“ It was a part of the tenure by which the land was held, that the tenants should pass at the ferry; should grind the corn raised on the same land, at the lord's mill, or that of his tenant, so that the profits of the ancient mill should not be impaired to their injury. 22 Hen. VI. 14-15, by PASTON, J. The rule, of course, could have no application beyond the ville or manor, in which there existed such privity of tenure; the nature of the right is incompatible with the jus publicum in public waters, or private rights of property held independently of the lord of the manor. ”

“ Another chapter of legislation related to the tenure of land, and although it did not first introduce the tenure called ‘feu farm,’ gave legal security to the farmers who took feus against the casualty of ward, and greatly encouraged that useful modification of feudal holding. ”

“ On the other hand, the landowner does not get the full advantage of the elasticity in rent and management that leasehold tenure makes possible, unless the tenant is a man of some substance, who can spend capital in cultivating land on a large scale, in stocking a farm with sheep and cattle, in carrying crops until the best market is found, and in making experiments in new directions. ”

“ In Travancore-Cochin a Committee consisting of non-official members has bеen appointed to enquire into and report on the integration of the land tenure system and on certain problems connected with agrarian reforms. ”

“ The good-will or tenant-right of a farm is generally very high, often amounting to forty or fifty years purchase, land being the thing most coveted, as indeed, it has been the only means of subsistence, employment being uncertain, and as till of late no support being provided for the poor and helpless every penny was carefully put by with a view of purchasing land. ”

“ In the north, the farm servant has become almost master of the market, and is certainly better off than many of the small tenants;—in the south, though still not paid as he should be, his position is much improved, while, all over the country, the navvy, the quarryman, and the drainer are receiving from 10s to 12s a week. ”

“ These classes did not see, and do not yet see, that the tenure of land is the fundamental fact which must ultimately determine the conditions of industrial, social and political life. And so the tendency has been to assimilate the idea of property in land with that of property in things of human production, and steps backwards have even been hailed as steps in advance. ”

“ For those who own no land, but who are merely tenants of the Tu-muh, [S] there seems to be no security of tenure; but still, if the wishes and demands of the landlords are complied with, one family may till the same farm for many successive generations. The terms on which land is held are peculiar. ”

“ It is our belief (it may be an erroneous one, and we are open to conviction if we are wrong) that if the wish of the most extreme advocates of tenant right were granted to-morrow, and a system of fixity of tenure, with low rents, were introduced, the great bulk of that particular class of our farmers which stands in special need of improvement would remain virtually at a standstill. Well-to-do men, and men of taste and skill, might build houses and barns, and lay drains, and straighten fences, and make farm roads, fill hollows, sub-soil the land and all the rest of it ”

“ The tenant farmers of Ireland wish for fixity of tenure, and care but little for compensation for improvements, except as a means of obtaining a practical fixity of tenure; and they would, unquestionably, rejoice to see transferred to themselves, as occupiers of the soil, the rights now enjoyed by absentee noblemen and landlords. It is the opinion of many that the Land question cannot be settled without such a change of owners as would practically amount to a revolution. ”

“ He says: "I begin with the subject of tenure: uniform experience of human nature teaches that men will not toil for the benefit of others as they toil for themselves. You are very sensitive about the maintenance of the due rights of property.... The same feelings influence your tenant; he will not expend his capital upon your land unless the return of such capital be guaranteed to him." His third letter is devoted to the question of drainage, and the reclamation of waste lands. ”

“ Not only are we now free to give adequate consideration to this question, but it is also imperative that we should do so, for whilst I am hopeful that the Land Act will settle the question of tenure, it will obviously not merely leave the other problems of agricultural existence—problems some of which are not unknown in other parts of the United Kingdom—still unsolved, but will also increase the necessity for their solution, and will, moreover, bring in its train complex difficulties of its own. ”

“ The redistribution of land is particularly important where large estates and vast numbers of the land-poor coexist. Crucial components include the reform of tenancy arrangements, security of tenure, and the clear recording of land rights. ”

“ Not only have rentals been reduced considerably and arrears cancelled, but the increased sense of security resulting from the granting of fair rentals, fixity of tenure and compensation for disturbance has induced tenants to reclaim waste land, to enlarge their holdings and to apply themselves more thriftily and with greater enterprise and intelligence to the development of their farms. ”

“ Without discussing the relative merits of these reasons, there are two things that must be faced—such laborers must be educated, so far as possible by example, and they must be offered the opportunity to hold land with some fixity of tenure, either by purchasing it on the installment plan or by obtaining leases from the present landowners. ”

“ And some freemen hold their tenements according to the cnstome of certaine manors, by such services ... and yet they are not villeins; for no land holden in villenage, or villein land, shall ever make a freeman villeine. But a villeine may make free land to be villeine land to his lord.
"Villenage is the service of a bondman. And yet a freeman may doe the service of him that is bond. And therefore a tenure in villenage is twofold; one, where the person of the tenant is bond, and the tenure servile; the other, where the person is free, and the tenure servile. ”