312 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



capitalized shares was fixed at one hundred and forty-five (60 -|- 

 30 -|- 40 -(- 15 = 145); and of these shares A became proprietor 

 of sixty, B proprietor of thirty, C of forty, and D of fifteen. But the 

 shares were not divided. They were held in common. A and his de- 

 scendants held land enough for sixty animals in the common pasture. 

 They could turn out sixty animals, but no more than sixty. B and 

 his descendants were limited to thirty animals, D and his descendants 

 were limited to fort}', C and his descendants to fifteen. So long as the 

 pasture remained undivided, rights of property were represented by 

 rights of common. These rights were very strictly defined according 

 to what they represented. 



The associate proprietors had each his dwelling-place, — his house, 

 with sheds, yards, and generally an enclosed garden. He had also 

 houses, with sheds, yards, and gardens for his laborers. So much 

 property the proprietors held in severalties ; but the shares of arable 

 land and of pasture land were generally held in common, in the man- 

 ner described. At the same time, the undivided shares of arable and 

 pasture land were just as much the property of the difi'erent projiri- 

 etors as the dwelling-places which they held in severalties. They 

 were inherited from the very first moment of their existence, and, 

 with the consent of the heirs, they were alienable. The capital, con- 

 sisting of animals and laborers, which was put into the land, was 

 hereditary and alienable ; consequently the capitalized shares of land 

 were hereditary and alienable also. No doubt appears to have been 

 held upon this point among the early Germans. 



It was in this way that individuals became proprietors of the land 

 before the land was divided into severalties ; and we see clearly 

 enough how a division of the land into severalties is not necessarily 

 antecedent to the idea of individual proprietorship. The German 

 freemen were at first simply capitalists capitalizing shares of the land 

 according to their means. The rich men, who had many animals and 

 laborers, capitalized a great many shares of the .and ; the poor men, 

 who had only a few animals and a few laborers, capitalized only a few 

 shares. Then, as the land became thickly settled and completely capi- 

 talized, the existing capitalized shares were counted, defined, and dis- 

 ti-ibuted among the capitalists ; and the capitalists became in this way 

 proprietors of undivided shares of the land. Each one became pro- 

 prietor of the shares he had capitalized. The undivided properties 

 thus established were hereditary and alienable (with the consent of the 

 heirs), together with the capital put upon them. When a man died 

 leaving four sons, and property amounting to twelve equipped laborers 



