78 THE STATUS OF PEASANTRY IN PORTLAND. 



intercourse, and it is perhaps more than a coincidence that (still 

 with the possible exception of Ely) these are all places claimed 

 as centres of Jutish colonisation. If this, indeed, be more than 

 coincidence, it shows that amongst the Jutes, or what might be 

 perhaps more correctly termed the Jute- Frisians, the lowest 

 class of owners must have been very small holders, and that 

 the land must have been divided into smaller sections than 

 elsewhere. Are we to deduce from these smaller holdings 

 greater individual rights of the people with regard to proprietary 

 interests in the land, or does it denote here superior fertility 

 of the soil, there trading facilities, or even a possible combination 

 of both ? 



The Old English land system was mainly communal, in spite of 

 certain private rights. The arable land was cultivated in strips, 

 separated from neighbouring acres by thin fringes of unploughed 

 turf called balks. These strips were sometimes hereditary, 

 sometimes allotted. After the crops were gathered the fields 

 became common pasture land, and individual rights were lost for 

 the time. Up to the passing of the Tithes' Commutation Act in 

 1836 this Old English system remained partly in force in 

 Portland Isle, the fields having what were termed "open" and 

 " closed " years. During the " closed " period the owners 

 planted and gathered their crops in the usual way, but the 

 following or "open" year the fields were treated in "common " 

 and opened to all cattle of the island, irrespective of ownership. 



With regard to meadows, always a valuable asset in village life, 

 it was usual to put them under prohibition until Lammas Day, 

 when the grass was cut and made according to certain rules, 

 after which the land became the undivided pasture of the com- 

 munity. 



According to present-day legal opinion the constitution of the 

 Court Baron proves that there must have been free tenants to 

 constitute a manor. The Court Leet represented arrangements 

 that were in full force in Saxon times, but were fitted into the 

 Feudal system later. This Court Leet is still summoned twice a 

 year at Portland under the same old methods of procedure, and 



