PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 723 



Medieval System of Land Tenure. Among the nations 

 that succeeded to the sovereignty of Rome, the title and owner- 

 ship of land was regarded, as it is to-day in China, and in Eng- 

 land and other European countries, as inhering primarily to the 

 sovereign or chief of the state ; and when partitioned among his 

 nobles or chiefs, was held by them as it was termed on " tenure ; " 

 that is, on condition of performing certain services mainly 

 military, or the payment of a tribute in the nature of rent. 

 These conditions were ratified by oath ; and the chiefs could only 

 sublet, to their serfs or inferiors, on terms consistent with their 

 own tenure. 



Large domains were also set apart for the exclusive use of the 

 sovereign* both in his public and private capacity the state 

 and the sovereign being one and the same ; and from the revenues 

 thus accruing, and various fees and feudal incidents, the monarch, 

 or feudal lord, was expected to defray all the expenses of the 

 state, both public and private. Thus, the annual revenue of 

 William the Conqueror is estimated to have been 400,000 ; which, 

 taking into consideration that the pound at that time contained 

 three times the weight of silver that it now does, and that silver 

 had a comparatively great purchasing power, must have been 

 equivalent to at least four or five millions of present money; 

 and of the public expenditures of these ages it is important to 

 note that there were very few that represented the bulk of the 

 expenditures of modern governments. 



Thus, for example, education was mainly confined to the clergy 

 and the Church ; and was efficiently supported by the produce of 

 their own estates, or by tithes levied on the estates of others. 

 There were few roads, and the labor of the serfs or peasants for a 

 few days, before or after harvest, sufficed to keep in passable con- 

 dition such as were needed to meet the demands of a very limited 

 intercourse and commerce between different sections of the coun- 

 try. The administration of justice was held to be the perquisite 

 of the lords or chiefs holding their estates direct from the crown, 

 and, in place of being an expense, became through abuse and cor- 

 ruption a source of emolument. The standing army, which 

 more than any one agency has tended to the impoverishment of 

 modern Europe, could hardly be said to have then existed ; the 

 tenants in chief of the crown supporting the sovereign whenever 



* The royal demesne (right of ownership) under the Norman kings was at one time of 

 vast extent, comprising, according to Domesday Book, no less than fourteen hundred and 

 twenty-two manors or lordships, besides farms and lands. It was divided into (1) forest ; 

 (2) land held by rural tenants ; (8) royal cities, burghs, and towns. The first formed the 

 king's hunting ground, and afforded supplies of venison, etc., for the royal table ; the 

 second supplied the king's table in other respects ; the third was mainly the source of con- 

 tributions for the discharge of the king's debts. 



