ix.] DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND. 37 



well as a source of profit. And an estate, on which 

 a court could not be held, either through want of 

 free tenants, or absence of prescriptive right, was 

 not considered worthy to be dignified with the name 

 of Manor. In order that an estate might be entitled 

 to the appellation, it must have "sac and soc/' words 

 which clearly indicate the Saxon origin of the juris- 

 diction. The court, however, obtained a Norman 

 name that of Court Baron the court of the lord's 

 men or free tenants. 



I am not aware of any reason for supposing that 

 the condition of the peasant class, the actual tillers 

 of the soil, was affected in any sensible degree, by 

 the introduction of feudalism. That system moved 

 above their heads. To intrust serfs with arms was 

 no more a part of the Norman, than of the Saxon 

 constitution. 



Among the current errors of political writers and 

 speakers respecting the ancient tenures of land, there 

 is none more common than to represent serfage as a 

 feudal institution ; although serfage has notoriously 

 existed in Russia, Egypt, and other countries where 

 feudalism was never established ; and although, in 

 countries which became feudal, the introduction of 

 feudalism had been preceded for centuries by the 

 custom of serfage. Serfage was, in fact, a purely 

 agricultural, and [feudalism, a purely military 

 institution. 



