178 History of the English Landed Interest. 



cess of entails as a means of protection. The statute " De 

 Denis Conditionalibus " gave him public sanction whereby he 

 could entail his estates, so as to free them from the dangers of 

 alienation, rent charges, and forfeiture. This Act not only- 

 revived the drooping spirit of feudal law, but fostered such an 

 increasing power amongst the landed interest, that in process 

 of time the great proprietors were not only able to enslave the 

 people, for that they more or less had always claimed io do, 

 but occasionally to menace the throne. It was not till com- 

 merce had created a class as wealthy as that of the landowner, 

 with a power over the attainment of luxuries which the heavy 

 burdens on the latter's revenues prevented him from ever 

 enjoying, that the landlord began to shake off those fetters of 

 entail which hitherto he had hugged, and to barter his acres 

 for the merchant's gold. 



The power to entail admits a right of absolute ownership, 

 contrary to the principles of the other statute for which 

 Edward I.'s reign is remarkable. If "Quia Emptores" re- 

 stored the original lord's feudal rights, " De Donis " could 

 apply to his demesnes only. A feud, we have said, represen- 

 ted a grant of seignorial rights over lands to a vassal and his 

 sons, the fief reverting to the lord at their deaths. But as the 

 vassal grew more independent, and the lord stood in greater 

 need of his class, succession was extended by law to grandsons, 

 and afterwards to descendants ad infinitum. "We require to be 

 constantly reminded that lands in those times were of small 

 value in comparison with other property, and that therefore 

 the improvements of a vassal were often infinitely more im- 

 portant and valuable than the sites they occupied. Nominally 

 the land might belong to the owner, practicall}'' it was his who 

 enjoyed its possession ; a distinction which gave rise to the 

 terms " dominium directum " and " dominium utile." The 

 finishing stage in the method of succession was the establish- 

 ment of primogeniture. The inheriting of all the children 

 equally was the ancient law of the land, and it died hard, if it 

 may be said to have died outright, as long as Gavelkind exists 

 in Kent. In Canute's laws it showed vitality, as also in those 

 of the Confessor. It flickered up into life again in Henry I.'s 



