THE LAW AND CUSTOM OF PRIMOGENITURE 369 



while 269,547 consist of one acre and upwards. Considering 

 how large a proportion of gardens and grounds forming part of 

 business premises exceed one acre in extent, it would certainly 

 have been convenient if some higher limit, not less than five 

 acres, had been fixed as the minimum area of a bona fide 

 landed property. However, the voluminous tables here set forth 

 contain ample materials for a more complete analysis than 

 is furnished in the official summary, and some of their more 

 important revelations have already been made public.^ It appears 

 that although nearly a million persons may own the sites of 

 their own homesteads, 42,524 is the extreme number of prop- 

 erties above icx) acres each, the number of their owners being 

 considerably less ; that nearly one-eighth of all the enclosed 

 land in England and Wales is in the hands of 100 owners ; 

 that nearly one-sixth is in the hands of less than 280 owners ; 

 and that above one-fourth is in the hands of 710 owners. Nor 

 is this all ; for it must not be forgotten that among the dukes 

 and other great noblemen who head this territorial roll there 

 are several who also derive a vast rental from Scotland, Ireland, 

 or the metropolis, whereas among the nominal proprietors below 

 one acre there is an indefinite number of mere faggot-voters. 



A close investigation of the returns for single counties fully 

 bears out these conclusions, and places the inequalities of 

 landed proprietorship in a still more striking light. Take, for 

 instance, Northumberland and Nottinghamshire, which stand 

 next to each other in alphabetical order, but differ widely from 

 each other in the character of their population. In North- 

 umberland, the number of owners below one acre is stated at 

 10,036, but they own no more than 1424 acres between them, 



^ See the elaborate statistics published in the Spectator of February 12, Feb- 

 ruary 19, and March 4, 1876. These statistics, having been tested by an inde- 

 pendent examination of the figures, seem to be substantially correct. A further 

 analysis published in the Times of April 7, 1876, shows three proprietors own- 

 ing above 100,000 acres, two between 80,000 and 100,000, two between 70,000 

 and 80,000, three between 60,000 and 70,000, nine between 50,000 and 60,000, 

 eight between 40,000 and 50,000, twenty-eight between 30,000 and 40,000, and 

 forty-five between 20,000 and 30,000. It also states that " 874 owners hold 

 9,367,133 acres, 2689 owners hold 14.896,324 acres, 10,207 owners hold 22,013,208 

 acres, 42,524 owners hold 28,840,550 acres." 



