56 The Winning of the West 



inal cases were referred to England. Before the 

 conquest the procureur du roi gave sentence by his 

 own personal decision in civil cases; if the matters 

 were important it was the custom for each party to 

 name two arbitrators, and the procureur du roi a 

 fifth ; while an appeal might be made to the council 

 superieur at New Orleans. The British command- 

 ant assumed the place of the procureur du roi, al- 

 though there were one or two half-hearted efforts 

 made to introduce the Common Law. 



The original French commandants had exercised 

 the power of granting to every person who peti- 

 tioned as much land as the petitioner chose to ask 

 for, subject to the condition that part of it should 

 be cultivated within a year, under penalty of its re- 

 version to "the king's demesnes." 15 The English 

 followed the same custom. A large quantity of 

 land was reserved in the neighborhood of each vil- 

 lage for the common use, and a very small quan- 

 tity for religious purposes. The common was gen- 

 erally a large patch of inclosed prairie, part of it 

 being cultivated, and the remainder serving as a 

 pasture for the cattle of the inhabitants. 16 The 

 portion of the common set aside for agriculture 

 was divided into strips of one arpent in front by 

 forty in depth, and one or more allotted to each in- 

 habitant according to his skill and industry as a 



15 Do. 



16 State Department MSS., No. 48, p. 41. Petition of J. B. 

 La Croix, A. Girardin, etc., dated "at Cohoe in the Illinois 

 i5th July, 1786." 



